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Lessons from Five Decades of RAND Counterinsurgency Research
The challenges posed by insurgency and instability have proved difficult to surmount. This difficulty may embolden future opponents to embrace insurgency in combating the United States. Both the current and future conduct of the war on terror demand that the United States improve its ability to conduct counterinsurgency (COIN) operations. This study makes recommendations for improving COIN based on RAND’s decades-long study of it.
First, organization for COIN must be improved. The Provincial Reconstruction Team model that has been implemented in parts of Iraq and Afghanistan is a good start, but does not go far enough. This model, which unites U.S. civilian and military personnel with local government, should be expanded and made the basis for current and future COIN efforts. Second, amnesty and reward programs should be implemented or expanded. These programs push insurgents out of the movement without having to fight them literally to the last person. A new study of insurgent motivation and morale should also be undertaken. Third, given the cross-border elements of insurgency in Iraq and Afghanistan, border security systems should be studied for both conflicts. Finally, pacification efforts should be focused on the lowest political echelons and combined with census-taking and national identification cards.
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Pages: 118
ISBN/EAN: 978-0-8330-3926-2
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Contents
Chapter One:
Introduction
Chapter Two:
The Wizards of Less-Than-Armageddon: RAND and COIN
Chapter Three:
Analogies and War: Are Theory and Empirics from Prior COIN Relevant?
Chapter Four:
COIN Theory: What Are Insurgencies and How Does One Fight Them?
Chapter Five:
The Social Scientists’ Wars: RAND and COIN Practice
Chapter Six:
COIN Old and New
Appendix:
RAND Counterinsurgency Publications, 1955-1995: Selected Annotated Bibliography
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