The Insurgent Archipelago: From Mao to Bin Laden

Provides a unique perspective on today s so called terrorism challenges MacKinlay asserts that in actuality, what is commonly and incorrectly considered terrorism is appropriately described as a post Maoist insurgency The insurgent archipelago refers to these elements or nodes of outraged and disaffected people who existed in their territorially separated places across the world but are now connected by proliferating communications and therefore part of the same global movements 221 222 MacKinl [...]

An interesting and timely analysis of modern insurgency, contrasting earlier Maoist inspired insurgencies with what the author calls post Maoist insurgency In the end, I am not convinced that current insurgencies differ from those of the past quite in the ways the author lays out Many of the attributes of post Maoist insurgency can be seen, for example, during the Vietnam era, when an essentially local, nationalist insurgency was able to leverage ideology to attract widespread popular internatio [...]

Absolutely fascinating look at counter insurgence insurgence COIN in the world and its evolution since Mao s days The main theory brought forward by this book is that an insurgency is no longer simply a matter of Hearts and Minds of the local population like it was in Mao s time, but since the population is now spread out across the world but still in contact through many means of communication television, internet, etc , it is no longer a matter of moving into the offending country area, but no [...]

A great, big picture view on terrorism as insurgency It doesn t pretend to give a total solution, but it does give a coherent structure to the connection between global terrorist attacks and the local battles in which Western armies find themselves engaged, though that connection may just be that NATO fights both but that otherwise they are unrelated This is great for developing the terms of engagement for governments to address insurgency in than a strictly military fashion It s written by a B [...]

One of the best books on contemporary irregular threats insurgency His idea of post Maoist insurgency is compelling, as are his thoughts on diasporas helping to form an archipelago However, I need to reread this book as my marked up copy was lost in the mail from Afghanistan sad face