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This text is the first to categorize armed groups and analyze their characteristics in a systematic way to provide a thorough overview of all types of armed groups and the role they play in today’s security environment. Drawing on international case studies and histories, it analyzes the objectives, strategies, and internal composition of armed groups and the environments that foster them.
List of contents
1. Introduction
Importance of the Topic
What Are "Armed Groups"?
Book Objectives
Armed Groups and International Relations Theory
Conclusion
Discussion Questions
Recommended Reading
Notes
2. Conflict in the Twenty-First Century
Interstate Conflict Decreasing
The "New War" Paradigm?
Irregular Warfare
Role of Geopolitical and Geostrategic Factors
US Participation in Intrastate Conflicts
Armed-Group Threats to the United States
Discussion Questions
Recommended Readings
Notes
3. What Are Armed Groups?
Distinguishing Between Armed Groups and State Militaries
Common Armed-Group Characteristics
Armed-Group Formation
Challenging the "Nonstate Actor" Label
Discussion Questions
Organization
Membership
Ideology
Objectives
Discussion Questions
Recommended Readings
Notes
4. Armed-Group Archetypes
Insurgents
Terrorists
Transnational Criminal Organizations
Militias
"Commercial" Armed Groups
Evolution, "Hybridization," and the Crime-Terror Nexus
Discussion Questions
Recommended Readings
Notes
5. Internal Characteristics
Leadership
Organization
Membership
Ideology
Objectives
Discussion Questions
Recommended Readings
Notes
6. External Characteristics
Strategy
Tactics
Strategic Communications
External Support
Discussion Questions
Recommended Readings
Notes
7. Combating Armed Groups
Combating Grievances and the Environment
Military, Political, Legal, and Economic Constraints on Governments
General Countering Strategies
Combating the Armed Group
Conclusion
Discussion Questions
Recommended Readings
Notes
8. Conclusion
Armed-Group Adaptation and Evolution
Future Armed-Group Threats
Combating Armed Groups
Three Questions
Recommended Readings
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the author
By Peter G. Thompson
Summary
This text is the first to categorize armed groups and analyze their characteristics in a systematic way to provide a thorough overview of all types of armed groups and the role they play in today's security environment. Drawing on international case studies and histories, it analyzes the objectives, strategies, and internal composition of armed groups and the environments that foster them.
