Man with a plan
Comrades, I have a couple of new papers out. One on Al Qa’eda’s strategic theory is in the current Studies in Conflict and Terrorism. In it, I make a connection between Guevara’s focoism and AQ’s strategic writing, drawing on some of those texts. And I have a pop at some theorists who see AQ as a kind of post-modern, deterritorialized movement.
The other is in the current British Army Review – which is a cracker this winter. Alas, for some reason the Review is not available online, but continuing a recent, and bold, theme, some of its writers don’t pull their punches in criticizing their bosses. Mine isn’t that sort of article – it’s called Some Principles for Influence in Counterinsurgency, and sets out to describe how psychology and neuroscience can inform the practice of winning ‘hearts and minds’. You can link to a pdf of the article from my webpage, here.
Hope some of that floats your boat. Sorry for my absence from here lately – am trying to write a book and several other bits and bobs, which is keeping me busy. Right now I’m enjoying the bizarre psychological theories propounded by JC Carothers during the Mau Mau revolt. All very entertaining, of which more soon.
Hasta la victoria siempre! Inshallah…
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Dear Ken –
I know that Che was a better motorcyclist and pox-doctor than revolutionary.
And maybe he should have stuck with being a – doctor, the poor bloke.
I make the point that the first at the barricades usually get the chop no matter how decent they are in real life.
I reckon there is a bit of the Flashman in every Castro or Ho Che Minh.
They can’t quite handle competition, any of their sort.
“The British Army Review”?
My niece had some job a while back with OzDefence doing some publishing thing too.
As best I can understand no one here was going to chase up a paper copy of something too boring to read.
Ten secs for on-line, no problemo.
But wait for MoD to send you one?
Once it has arrived – the necessity is usually past.
Someone should tell them.
‘Winning hearts and minds’ as core policy is something that OzDefence (Australia) has bent over backwards to achieve for decades now.
I’m sure they let ‘Intelligence’ in on the act as they proceed (you’d have to be out of your nut if you didn’t) but mainly they get there by providing whatever assets and resources they can afford right there on the job. (people power)
I acknowledge that doing such in more recent scenarios is becoming more fraught. – but at least our people do their damnedest.
One last point about recent scenarios.
Whether deserved or not how does one out-psych a set of people who quite simply hate our guts?
Well, there you go. At least you have a reply.