Theory of Irregular War

by Jonathan W. Hackett

From Afghanistan to Angola, Indonesia to Iran, and Colombia to Congo, violent reactions erupt, states collapse, and militaries relentlessly pursue operations doomed to fail. And yet, no useful theory exists to explain this common tragedy. All over the world, people and states clash in violent crucibles outside their established political systems as unfulfilled demands of order, control, and productivity bend the modern state to a breaking point. This book methodically lays out how dysfunctional governments disrupt social orders, make territory insecure, and interfere with political-economic institutions, giving rise to a form of organized violence against the state known as irregular war. Research reveals why this frequent phenomenon is so poorly understood among conventional forces participating in those conflicts and the states who send their children to die in them.

261 pages, Paperback

Published December 25, 2023

Reviews

[Mojgan Azar · Rating 5 out of 5]

The ideas in this book are absolutely groundbreaking and directly apply to conflicts in the Middle East, Africa, and really anywhere on earth where people have been living the past 400 years. The broad applicability and validity of Hackett's arguments makes the current situation all the more perplexing--how has no one come up with a theory like this before? I just hope policymakers read something like this before deciding to throw more people and money at a problem that needs a very different set of solutions.

[Eric Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

So far, this book goes pretty in-depth to some of the common insurgencies and theory regarding counterinsurgency, and theories on Irregular War. It's kinda exhaustive, and frankly I learned a few little things about it since I read a lot on Irregular Warfare in general, and how it's theorized, and how to approach it. I'm not saying this book is bad, it's not, but a bit lengthy. In some cases the footnotes kinda save you as it can get boring at times, but I'll give it four out of five stars because if you're priming yourself on Irregular War, then this is the book for you.