Reflection on Twenty Years of Irregular Warfare and Counterinsurgency through Discussions on a Podcast
In the latest episode of the "Irregular Warfare Podcast," hosts Julia McClenon and Louis Tobergte delve into the overlaps between irregular warfare and counterinsurgency, focusing on the lessons learned from the wars of the last twenty years.
Irregular warfare and counterinsurgency share a common focus on non-conventional means of conflict, often involving non-state actors and efforts to influence local populations and legitimacy rather than just military attrition. However, irregular warfare is more adaptive and less locked into attrition-based strategies typical of traditional counterinsurgency approaches.
Regarding China’s engagement in irregular warfare, while direct evidence is scarce, such warfare typically involves covert and clandestine actions, including "undercover" or "pseudo-operations" for infiltration and influence, which many states, including China, have been reported to employ in various forms. China's known use of hybrid tactics, influence operations, and proxies aligns with irregular warfare methods, though explicit confirmation is lacking.
The discussion also revolves around the struggles encountered in measuring success and failure over the past twenty years. Failures in these wars include over-reliance on attrition-based strategies, failure to build legitimacy with local populations, poor civil-military integration, and inadequate adaptation to local socio-political contexts.
To avoid repeating these mistakes, irregular warfare practitioners should prioritise legitimacy and civil-military coordination, develop adaptive, intelligence-informed approaches, incorporate combined civilian and military components, utilise nuanced, flexible tactics, and avoid rigid "train and equip" models that do not acknowledge local complexities.
The episode, titled "Episode 85," features guests David Kilcullen, author of "Blood Year," and John Nagl, who wrote "Why America's Army Can't Win America's Wars." Sgt. Curt Cashour took the image credit for the episode. The discussion revolves around recent works of Kilcullen and Nagl and concludes with thoughts and suggestions for irregular warfare practitioners and thinkers who may not have significant direct experience in the wars of the last twenty years.
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- The podcast discusses the importance of prioritizing legitimacy and civil-military coordination in irregular warfare, strategies that were often overlooked in past war-and-conflicts, such as those in the last twenty years.
- China's deployment of hybrid tactics, influence operations, and proxies are aligned with irregular warfare methods, as they often employ covert and clandestine actions, like undercover or pseudo-operations, making their engagement in such warfare non-trivial in the realm of general-news and politics.
