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This study argues that guerrilla insurgencies will be a major feature of the post-Cold War international scene, and that the advisability of intervention in some of them will become a serious issue in American politics. Americans therefore need to refine their understanding of insurgency. Anthony James Joes analyzes several major insurgencies of this century, all of which the United States became involved in to one degree or another. While approaching each guerrilla insurgency as a primarily political phenomenon within a definite historical and cultural context, Joes also provides the reader with a clear understanding of the military aspects of such conflicts.
The book deals with a variety of cases, some currently very controversial; provides jargon-free analysis of historical, political, and military factors; challenges some widely cherished views about the potency of third-world nationalism; emphasizes the neglected but often decisive effects of geography; examines the flaws in both the French and the American strategies in Viet Nam; and connects Soviet reverses in Afghanistan with the collapse of their empire in Europe. A major conclusion is that protracted guerrilla insurgency is usually the result of inept government policies; the author outlines a politico-military strategy for bringing an insurgency to an end. Another important conclusion is that our belief in the power of nationalism in insurgencies needs reevaluation. This volume will provide a new perspective for students, teachers, and general readers interested in international affairs, war, and foreign policy.
List of contents
Introduction: Insurgency and the Future
On the Nature of Guerrilla War
A Greek Drama
Insurrections in the Philippines
The Agony of French Indochina
South Viet Nam: Defeat Out of Victory
Afghanistan: The End of the Red Behemoth
Conclusion: Guerrilla Insurgency and American Policy
Selected Bibliography
Index
About the author
ANTHONY JAMES JOES is director of the international relations program at St. Joseph's University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1970. Among his previous writings are Fascism in the Contemporary World
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Barrel of a Gun: Armies and Revolutions, and The War for South Viet Nam (Praeger, 1989).
