Insurgency
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An insurgency, or insurrection, is an armed uprising, or revolt against an established civil or political authority. Persons engaging in insurgency are called insurgents, and typically engage in regular or guerrilla combat against the armed forces of the established regime, or conduct sabotage and harassment in the land.
[edit] Tactics and strategies
Insurgent tactics and strategies vary widely, as well as the type of targets insurgents attack. Raids are amongst the most common actions taken by insurgents in a dominated state or province. In addition, insurgents establish ties with other outlaws and double agents to further their goals. Some militants can also be sponsored by competing or enemy state governments. Some elements of an insurgency may use bombs, kidnappings, hostage-taking, hijackings, shootings and other types of violence to target the establishment's power structure and other facilities, sometimes with little regard for civilian casualties. Other elements may only target their attacks on military objectives and avoid the targeting of civilians. Many times, insurgent groups conduct violent attacks but do not reveal the group's identity or leader. Usually, an individual with iconic and symbolic status throughout the movement becomes its principal leader against the governmental authority. Leaders of differing background from the insurgency movement itself may, at times, take over an insurgency.
Insurgents use a variety of asymmetrical warfare tactics, usually because of the insurgents force's capabilities are unequal to the authority's capabilities. Insurgents' attacks against the authority may take the form of attacks on supply trains and security forces using hidden explosives. These explosive devices, at times made from military-grade materials, are concealed or camouflaged along transport routes and detonated when supply transports or security forces come within distance. Insurgents frequently launch ambushes on military targets, with automatic and antitank weapons. Unarmored targets are commonly targeted. The congested and constricted terrain of the urban areas, and in the rural areas, offer cover and concealment for insurgents launching ambushes for a force multiplier by the insurgent force and as a force inhibitor against the targeted force. Such attacks are usually broken off before support or reinforcements can be called in.
[edit] Contemporary political discourse
Insurgency is most commonly used to describe a movement's unlawfulness by virtue of not being authorized by or in accordance with the law. When used by a state or an authority under threat, "insurgency" implies an illegitimacy of cause upon those rising up. Whereas those rising up will see the authority itself as being illegitimate. In cases of rebellions, the term insurgents refers to those who are not part of the decision-making entity that has the ability to make laws. For example, "the congress has the authority to pass laws to stop the insurgency" vs "the police have the power to arrest insurgents".
The term the "Iraqi insurgency", has been used by various politicians and the mainstream media in the Western world to describe the conflict in post-invasion Iraq, 2003–2006, first as the conflict involving forces fighting against the multinational coalition force's occupying Iraq and since the UN Security Council Resolution 1546, the ongoing conflict against the new Iraqi Government and the coalition forces supporting that government.
Since the term "insurgent" was used to describe guerrillas fighting the occupation forces in Iraq, it appears to have been used much more in the Western media in coverage of other conflicts. For example, the Taliban are often referred to as insurgents, and asymmetrical conflicts are often described as "insurgencies", e.g. "the Maoist insurgency in Nepal".ko:무장 투쟁 ja:反乱
