National experiences with insurgencies and counterinsurgencies: are there “National styles”?

Heuser, B., Johnson, J., Egnell, R., Ucko, D., Frémeaux, J., Reis, B., Blank, S., Shichor, Y., Johnson, D. E., Pieper, H., Shamir, E., Inbar, E., Storr, J., Valensi, C., Johnson, R., Plakoudas, S., Zisser, E. and Tenenbaum, E. (2017) National experiences with insurgencies and counterinsurgencies: are there “National styles”? Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. ISBN 9781316501009

Abstract/Summary

There are clearly identifiable patterns in the way in which insurgents operate in certain geographic areas and cultures, and in which states deal with them. These have been stressed by writing about national "ways of war", strategic culture, or national styles. Nevertheless, there have been important ruptures and changes in some of these, so that for Britain, for example, three successive phases corresponding to patterns can be identified. For France, two pronounced rivaling traditions coincided over two centuries. Algerians by contrast changed fundamentally in their fighting style with the different political ideologies they were following. Palestinian insurgency against Israel is also marked by change in approach. Russia and China possibly show the longest continuity in their handling of insurgencies.