(AFP/File/Sabah Arar)The title is nothing more than a fancy rewording of counterinsurgency. Fabious Maximus has a great series of posts that delves into the social science foundation of the U.S. COIN Manual. Specifically he discusses how the foundations of modern COIN theory lie in largely unquestioned assumptions pulled from the social sciences. You can read his article here.
The phrase used on this blog, "understand the culture and the strategy writes itself" is an attempt to simplify effective COIN principles for the practitioner. Overseas population-centric COIN will always be done as a foreign force surrounding an area while patrols openly solicit the native citizens for information on the "bad" guys. An honest sociological approach would state such an action for what it truly is; intimidation of the populace.
If a foreign military surrounds your neighborhood, announced they would be leaving shortly to be replaced by a native security force, and only want to rid your neighborhood of fundamentalist guerrillas, would you cooperate? Does your cooperation mean you desire to radically change your own way of life to mimic that of the foreign military's culture?
Current COIN doctrine says "yes" to both.
Posts
