In the beginning of the 21st century counterinsurgency has been at the center of the scientific debate considering war-studies. Great efforts have been made to achieve success in conflicts against insurgents in the Middle East. Much of the scientific contributions have been implemented in doctrines and strategic approaches but unsuccessfully so. Given the complexity of these conflicts many theories that have emanated from the subject fail to grasp the insurgents’ actions altogether. Considering these statements, the purpose of this essay is to conduct an explorative study of the First Chechen war in order to contribute to the understanding of the insurgents’ success. The result of this study reveals that the theory I developed grasps the complexity of the conflicts but is overly detailed on how the insurgents should act. It is therefore not applicable to this conflict in its current form but cannot be dismissed, though. The Chechens mostly acted according to the theory. Therefore, the result of this study reveals that this insurgency had specific characteristics that need to be taken into consideration if one is to understand the outcome of the conflict. The study provides an indication that this might be true for other conflicts as well.

<p>Den svenska marinen likväl som världens handels sjöfart nyttjar alltmer satellitnavigering för sin positionering. Enligt totalförsvarets forskningsinstitut kan sådana system störas med förhållandevis enkla medel. Nu när den svenska marinen alltmer engagerar sig i insatser utomlands mot irreguljära motståndare väcks frågan om hur en irreguljär motståndare kan påverka den svenska marinen och den svenska marinens taktik. I denna uppsats kommer frågor kring en irreguljär motståndares förmåga att påverka GNSS att ställas. Samt frågan om vilken påverkan detta har för såväl den svenska marinens fartyg som handelssjöfarten. Uppsatsen kommer även att behandla möjligheterna till skydd mot störning samt hur den svenska marinens taktik kommer påverkas om en irreguljär motståndare försöker störa ut GNSS-system.</p> / <p>The Swedish Navy as well as the worlds shipping industries use more and more satellite navigation for positioning purposes. According to the Swedish Defence Research Agency, those types of systems can relatively easily and at a low cost be jammed. With the Swedish Navy becoming more and more involved in missions overseas against insurgents, the question is whether an insurgent can affect the Swedish Navy and its tactics. This paper investigates the questions about what opportunities an insurgent have to affect the GNSS-system and how that can affect the Swedish Navyas well as the shipping industries. This paper is also about how the tactics of the Swedish Navy will be affected if an insurgent attempts to jam the GNSS-systems and the possibility of protection against jamming.</p>

Den svenska marinen likväl som världens handels sjöfart nyttjar alltmer satellitnavigering för sin positionering. Enligt totalförsvarets forskningsinstitut kan sådana system störas med förhållandevis enkla medel. Nu när den svenska marinen alltmer engagerar sig i insatser utomlands mot irreguljära motståndare väcks frågan om hur en irreguljär motståndare kan påverka den svenska marinen och den svenska marinens taktik. I denna uppsats kommer frågor kring en irreguljär motståndares förmåga att påverka GNSS att ställas. Samt frågan om vilken påverkan detta har för såväl den svenska marinens fartyg som handelssjöfarten. Uppsatsen kommer även att behandla möjligheterna till skydd mot störning samt hur den svenska marinens taktik kommer påverkas om en irreguljär motståndare försöker störa ut GNSS-system. / The Swedish Navy as well as the worlds shipping industries use more and more satellite navigation for positioning purposes. According to the Swedish Defence Research Agency, those types of systems can relatively easily and at a low cost be jammed. With the Swedish Navy becoming more and more involved in missions overseas against insurgents, the question is whether an insurgent can affect the Swedish Navy and its tactics. This paper investigates the questions about what opportunities an insurgent have to affect the GNSS-system and how that can affect the Swedish Navyas well as the shipping industries. This paper is also about how the tactics of the Swedish Navy will be affected if an insurgent attempts to jam the GNSS-systems and the possibility of protection against jamming.

This dissertation examines the emergence, survival, performance, and national impact of rebel parties following negotiated settlements. Building on a growing literature examining the environmental and organizational factors affecting insurgent-to-party transformations, this dissertation asks why some insurgent organizations thrive as political parties in post-conflict environments and others fail to make such a transformation. I propose that foreign actors play a pivotal role in the formation of what I call “protégé parties,” which are better equipped to make the transformation into political parties than other rebel groups. Further, different kinds of sponsors have varying effects on transformation. Empirical analysis supports these propositions, finding that protégé parties with authoritarian sponsorship are better equipped to develop than those backed by democracies or no one.

Jan Adamec, Hungary 1956: from a reform of socialism to a national uprising Dizertační práce Univerzita Karlova v Praze, Filozofická fakulta, Ústav světových dějin, Praha, 2015 Abstract The theses aims to analyze the crisis of the Hungarian Communist regime in 1956. It begins with the internal party struggle between Prime Minister Imre Nagy and First Secretary Matyás Rákosi in 1953-1955. Khrushchev's destalinisation initiative in 1956 triggered a new wave of conflicts. The crisis within the Communist Party was then deepened by the demise of Rákosi and the installation of Ernő Gerő as his successor in July 1956 and the emotionally charged reburial of László Rajk. The crisis coincided with grave economic shortages and rising dissatisfaction in the countryside. Encouraged Hungarian students organized demonstrations on 23 October 1956 that grew into mass riots against the regime. New agents that then played a key role in the events in question entered the political arena. Firstly, the Soviet army intervened on behalf of the Hungarian Communist leadership; however, it failed to restore order or suppress the mass movement. Secondly, dozens of guerrilla-like insurgent groups fought enthusiastically against the Soviets. Khrushchev contemplated postponing the use of military force for a brief period of time;...

This thesis approaches the reasons behind the success of insurgencies in conflicts against greater nations. Why is it that a small group with limited resources can triumph against a great military power. This study seeks to analyze the conflicts in Afghanistan 1979-1989 and Chechnya 1994-1996 with the use of an adapted version of the SWORD-model in order to conclude whether the model can elucidate the separate outcomes. The original model is based on seven dimensions which all explains different aspects on how a state ought to combat insurgents in order to succeed, and has predominantly been used to analyze conflicts involving the US, not Russia or the USSR. A case study is then realized on the two conflicts in order to strengthen or weaken the analytic prowess of the adapted SWORD-model. The analysis concludes that the insurgents had the advantage in four and three respectively, out of the four adapted dimensions in Afghanistan and Chechnya, which indicates that the insurgents should have succeed in both conflicts which they did. Based on this, it can be argued that the analytic power of the adapted SWORD-model has been strengthened by explaining two additional partly unique conflicts involving alternative states.

Social movements are mobilization groups of stakeholders who seek to change the status quo, given the unfavorable conditions regarding their demands, rights, warrants, etc. As a fundamental effect of the change, social movements become leading actors of institutional change. One of these effects is given in the environmental issues, in the use, control, legislation and appreciation of nature. The insurgent policies developed by these movements are, in the current context of globalization and development of information technology and communication, the center of analysis in this paper, focusing on the U.S. environmental movement. We, therefore, believe that insurgent policies determine the beginning of institutional change. / Los movimientos sociales son grupos movilizados de actores sociales que buscan cambiar el status quo dadas las condiciones no favorables en relación con sus demandas, derechos, garantías,etc. Como efecto fundamental de dicho cambio, los movimientos sociales se constituyen como actores protagónicos del cambio institucional. Uno de estos efectos se da en el tema ambiental, en el uso, control, legislación y valoración de la naturaleza. Las políticas insurgentes que desarrollan dichos movimientos serán, en el actual contexto de la globalización y desarrollo de las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación, el centro de análisis de este documento, enfocándose en el movimiento ecologista de Estados Unidos. Por tanto, creemos que las políticas insurgentes determinan el inicio del cambio institucional.

Stridsfordon 90 togs fram för att möta en reguljär motståndare på vårt eget territorium. Dagens krav och förutsättningar är annorlunda då striden främst genomförs i konfliktzoner utomlands, men även på vårt eget territorium. Motståndaren vi möter nyttjar andra metoder för att genomföra sin strid och agerar på ett annorlunda sätt än vad vi är övade vid. Syftet med arbetet är att undersöka hur ett förband med stridsfordon 90 lämpar sig i strid på dagens stridsfält mot en irreguljär motståndare. För att ta reda på detta så beskriver jag fjärde generationens krigföring och stridsfordon9040Cför att sedan kunna analysera och jämföra den taktiska nivån utifrån de grundläggande förmågorna. Användningen av strf 90 och mekskytteplutonens taktik mot en 4GW motståndare är lämpliga att användaapligt på den taktiska nivån. Mekskytteplutonens taktik är flexibel och sätter få begränsningar mot taktiken hos en anfallande 4GW motståndare. / Combat vehicle 90 was developed to meet a conventional opponent on our own territory. Today's demands and conditions are different, today’s battles is mainly carried out in foreign conflict zones but also on our own territory. The opponent we face uses other means to carry out their combat, and acts in a different way than we are trained for.    The purpose of this work is to investigate how a unit equipped with combat vehicle 90 is suitable in today's battlefield against an irregular opponent. In order to answer this question, I have described the fourth generation warfare and combat vehicle 9040C, then analyzed and compared the tactical levels from the theory of the basic abilities.               The use of CV90 and the mechanized infantry platoons tactics against a 4GW opponent is appropriate to use at the tactical level. The flexible tactics of the mechanized infantry platoon gives an advantage over a 4GW opponent and the tactics used by such an opponent.

Cette recherche doctorale en histoire immédiate, s'inscrit dans une réflexion plus large sur l'étude de nouveaux conflits, la culture et l'emploi des forces armées françaises sur le terrain, en prenant l'exemple de son engagement en Afghanistan. Elle porte particulièrement sur l'emploi de l'arme du génie dont nous postulons à la grande importance de ses savoir-faire sur le terrain, en situation de contre-insurrection. / This doctoral research takes part on the study of the new conflicts, by taking the example of the French engineers in Afghanistan. We postulate for the big importance of these combat support units in situation of counterinsurgency.

The following dissertation develops a theoretical framework for guiding the strategy of democratic states in successfully countering the hostilities of nationalistic substate terrorist organizations (NSTOs), and effectively manipulating the terrorist group’s (and its supporting elements’) decision-making calculus. In particular, the theory of strategic coercion has been chosen as a basis for formulating this framework, based upon: 1) the invaluable guidance it offers in dynamically drawing upon all instruments of national power—economic, diplomatic, military, etc.—to accomplish politico-strategic objectives; and 2) the unique insights it provides into making strategic moves aimed at influencing the choices taken by an adversary. However, strategic coercion theory as it currently stands is inadequate for applications against substate terrorist organizations. As a quintessential cornerstone for prescriptive policy in strategic studies, such a looming deficiency vis-à-vis one the most important security threats of the modern age is unacceptable. The new theoretical framework established in this dissertation—entitled the Balance Theory of strategic coercion—addresses this deficiency. The Balance Theory stresses that three key coercive elements of strategic coercion are fundamentally important for successfully ending the hostilities posed by NSTOs, being: A) Isolation of external/international support; B) Denial; and C) Isolation of popular support. It posits that these three aspects of strategic coercion serve as the sine qua non for success in countering an NSTO’s campaign of violence and effectively manipulating its decision-making process. Implementation of these three elements, moreover, must be pursued in tandem, taking care so as not to sacrifice one aspect for the other. The Balance Theory is tested through the employment of case-study analysis. In pursuing this end, both cross-case and within-case analyses are performed, accompanied by the utilization of the methods of focused, structured comparison. The cases examined are those of: 1) The United Kingdom versus Republican NSTOs (1969-2007); and 2) Israel versus Palestinian NSTOs (1967-present). The dissertation concludes with an examination of how the Balance Theory may provide insights for the formulation of counter-terrorism strategy against Al Qaeda in the current "War on Terror".