Before I went on to the next topic I wanted to touch briefly on the third condition for an insurgency - leadership.
Just as you can put out a fire by targeting any one of the three parts of the fire triangle, so you can try to fight an insurgency by targeting leadership. This, however, has some serious drawbacks and I don't recommend it as the sole course of action.
The basic problem is that if you get rid of leaders without addressing the underlying grievances all you are doing is postponing the problem until another leader crops up. Spending resources constantly looking out for that next leader is exhausting, and any potential leader only has to succeed once.
I think that's what some of the more tyrannical rulers try to do. Some may even be aware that it's only a temporary fix, and may try to address the underlying issues...but it's hard to say whether or not they will succeed.
Going this route seems a bit like catching a tiger by the tail.
Just as you can put out a fire by targeting any one of the three parts of the fire triangle, so you can try to fight an insurgency by targeting leadership. This, however, has some serious drawbacks and I don't recommend it as the sole course of action.
The basic problem is that if you get rid of leaders without addressing the underlying grievances all you are doing is postponing the problem until another leader crops up. Spending resources constantly looking out for that next leader is exhausting, and any potential leader only has to succeed once.
I think that's what some of the more tyrannical rulers try to do. Some may even be aware that it's only a temporary fix, and may try to address the underlying issues...but it's hard to say whether or not they will succeed.
Going this route seems a bit like catching a tiger by the tail.
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