Counterinsurgency in Crisis: Britain and the Challenges of Modern Warfare

Columbia Studies in Terrorism and Irregular Warfare

by David H. Ucko, Robert Egnell, Colin S. Gray (Foreword)

The British military--long considered the masters of counterinsurgency--encountered significant problems in Iraq and Afghanistan when confronted with insurgent violence. In their effort to apply the principles and doctrines of past campaigns, they failed to prevent Basra and Helmand from descending into lawlessness, criminality, and violence.

By juxtaposing the deterioration of these situations against Britain's celebrated legacy of counterinsurgency, this investigation identifies both the contributions and limitations of traditional tactics in such settings, exposing a disconcerting gap between ambitions and resources, intent and commitment. Building upon this detailed account of the Basra and Helmand campaigns, this volume conducts an unprecedented assessment of British military institutional adaptation in response to operations gone awry. In calling attention to the enduring effectiveness of insurgent methods and the threat posed by under-governed spaces, Ucko and Egnell underscore the need for military organizations to acquire new skills for meeting the likely irregular challenges of future wars.

248 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

David H. Ucko, Ph.D., is the Head of the Net Assessment Section at NATO HQ. Prior to joining NATO, he was a professor at the College of International Security Affairs (CISA) of the National Defense University, Washington DC, where he taught irregular warfare and strategy to international military and civilian practitioners. From 2019-2023, he was the chair of CISA's Department of War & Conflict Studies (WACS) and, from 2018-2022, the Director of the Regional Defense Fellowship Program, whereby he led the College's international deployment of mobile education teams. Dr Ucko is a senior visiting fellow at the Department of War Studies, King's College London and an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University.

Dr Ucko has published several books on war-to-peace transition, civil wars, and strategy. Most recently, he authored The Insurgent's Dilemma: A Struggle to Prevail (Hurst / Oxford University Press, 2022) and, with Thomas A. Marks, Crafting Strategy for Irregular Warfare: A Framework for Analysis and Action, 2nd ed. (NDU Press, 2022). His publications also include a wide variety of peer-reviewed articles on political violence, strategy, and irregular warfare.

Dr Ucko was previously program coordinator and research fellow for the Conflict, Security & Development Research Group at the Department of War Studies, King's College London. He has also held visiting fellowships and research positions at various think-tanks, including the RAND Corporation in Washington DC, the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP) in Berlin, and the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in both in DC and in London.

Dr Ucko obtained his Ph.D. at the Department of War Studies in 2007, with a thesis examining the US military's institutional learning of counterinsurgency in the 2001-07 period. In 2001, he was awarded a First Class BSc in International Relations from the London School of Economics and, in 2004 a MRes at the Department of War Studies.