Page 5 - Counter Insurgancy
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modern environment. The strains created by globalization, by the collapse of weak
state structures, by demographic, environmental, and economic pressures, by the
ease of cooperation among insurgent groups and criminals, and by the appearance
of destructive radical ideologies, all augur a period in which free and moderate
governance is at risk. And in today’s world, state failure can quickly become not
merely a misfortune for local communities, but a threat to global security.
Whether the United States should engage in any particular counterinsurgency is a
matter of political choice, but that it will engage in such conflicts during the decades
to come is a near certainty. This Guide will help prepare decision-makers of many
kinds for the tasks that will result from this fact. Like all such works, it will serve
best if treated not as a rigidly defined set of recipes, but rather, as a stimulus to
disciplined, but creative thought.
Dr. Eliot A. Cohen
Counselor of the Department of State
