INSURGENCY AND COUNTER-INSURGENCY

Abstract

Insurgency is the organized use of subversion and violence to seize, nullify, or challenge political control of a region. The common man engages in this activity because he has more to gain in resisting the government rather than supporting it, and is willing to risk death. Although insurgency has been categorised as this, there are issues that lead to it, some of which is believed to be caused by bad governance. Counterinsurgency is an armed political competition with the insurgents and its fundamental goal is control over the environment, population and the enemy. It employs different approaches in curbing insurgency which most of the time fail. Good governance and the rule of law help reduce state vulnerability to insurgency, while effective intelligence, continuous pursuit of the insurgents, and weeding government forces' saboteurs prelude successful counterinsurgency.