Insurgent Conflict Sample Clauses

Insurgent Conflict. ‌ Civil conflicts are internal armed conflicts in which an organized non-state actor (the revi- sionist) uses violence to challenge the authority of the established government (the incum- bent). The goal of the revisionist actor is to achieve a stated political objective (Gleditsch et al. 2002). Conventional wisdom holds that weak states are more likely to experience civil conflict (Xxxxxx 2004), and these conflicts and other forms of political violence are more likely to emerge in areas beyond the reach of the state—in areas that are difficult for government security forces to patrol and enforce compliance to government policies (Xxxxxx and Laitin 2003, Xxxxxxx 2011, Xxxxxxx and Xxxxx 2014). The lack of military and political reach as well as the infrastructural and geographic conditions of an area, such as broken and road-less terrain, give revisionist political entrepreneurs the opportunity necessary to mobilize the noncombatant population. When conditions permit, these revisionist political entrepreneurs recruit, train, and equip fighters. They make demands that are incompatible with the status quo political order—a revolutionary government or secession from the recognized state, neither of which are acceptable to the incumbent regime. When the government rejects these demands, the armed non-state actor might then turn to political violence in an effort to overthrow government or breakaway from the state, seizing the reins of political power for themselves, in either case, if successful. Also known as irregular or guerrilla war, insurgent conflict is a subtype of these more general civil wars, where an asymmetry in military capabilities favoring the government is the distinguishing feature (Kalyvas and Balcells 2010). While military might and territorial control (as well as a bit of luck) help determine the outcome in conventional civil war, in insurgent conflict the government’s military superiority leaves little doubt that its forces will prevail in a head-to-head confrontation. Thus, insurgent elites adopt a guerrilla warfare strategy of attrition (Arregu´ın-Toft 2001, 2005). They use ambush and hit-and-run tactics in an effort at eroding state legitimacy and the government’s will to fight. The definition Xxxxx and Xxxxxx (2009) introduce helps clarify important dimensions of insurgent conflict.