The Complexity of Modern Asymmetric Warfare (Volume 8)

International and Security Affairs Series

by Max G. Manwaring

Today more than one hundred small, asymmetric, and revolutionary wars are being waged around the world. This book provides invaluable tools for fighting such wars by taking enemy perspectives into consideration. The third volume of a trilogy by Max G. Manwaring, it continues the arguments the author presented in Insurgency, Terrorism, and Crime and Gangs, Pseudo-Militaries, and Other Modern Mercenaries. Using case studies, Manwaring outlines vital survival lessons for leaders and organizations concerned with national security in our contemporary world.
The insurgencies Manwaring describes span the globe. Beginning with conflicts in Algeria in the 1950s and 1960s and El Salvador in the 1980s, he goes on to cover the Shining Path and its resurgence in Peru, Al Qaeda in Spain, popular militias in Cuba, Haiti, and Brazil, the Russian youth group Nashi, and drugs and politics in Guatemala, as well as cyber warfare.
Large, wealthy, well-armed nations such as the United States have learned from experience that these small wars and insurgencies do not resemble traditional wars fought between geographically distinct nation-state adversaries by easily identified military forces. Twenty-first-century irregular conflicts blur traditional distinctions among crime, terrorism, subversion, insurgency, militia, mercenary and gang activity, and warfare.
Manwaring’s multidimensional paradigm offers military and civilian leaders a much needed blueprint for achieving strategic victories and ensuring global security now and in the future. It combines military and police efforts with politics, diplomacy, economics, psychology, and ethics. The challenge he presents to civilian and military leaders is to take probable enemy perspectives into consideration, and turn resultant conceptions into strategic victories. 

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Military Fiction, Politics

228 pages, Hardcover

First published August 22, 2012

Reviews

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wars are not fought in a vacuum and with more than one hundred small, asymmetric, and revolutionary wars are being waged around the world it is necessary to understand enemy perspectives and motivations. Manwaring gives examples from Algeria in the 1950s and 1960s and El Salvador in the 1980s. He also covers the Shining Path and its resurgence in Peru, Al Qaeda in Spain, popular militias in Cuba, Haiti, and Brazil, the Russian youth group Nashi, and drugs and politics in Guatemala, as well as cyber warfare.

Why I started this book: The shortest Professional Reading title that I have, and I needed a quick break from The NRA: The Unauthorized History.

Why I finished it: Dense but so nice to have examples of insurgences from Central and South America. Most current military insurgency books focus on Vietnam and/or Iraq.

[Dennis Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Complexity of Modern Asymmetric Warfare by Max Manwaring is a good, if a bit outdated. I would say that Manwaring is a bit too uncritical of some of his sources, particularly Unrestricted Warfare. Otherwise, he's great to discuss the return of insurgent, political, broad-based warfare. There are several useful case studies worth examining, even if some seem too distant. The Peru case study felt particularly outdated, but it was still worth a glance. Overall, I think the best way to approach this book is to read it for its main takeaways, approach, and for its sources. There's a lot of very useful frameworks and references for understanding insurgencies and non-state actors in modern conflict, particularly with reference to Lenin and Maoist warfare in modern times.

[Mashhood Ahmad]

One of finest and best ever book written on warfare, helped me read battle of gaugemela, battle of kadesh,
- Exodus: Gods and kings
- Gods of Egypt
- The Nun
- Alexander the final Cut.

[Rizky Elfikar]

i need this book as reference to my tesis