Gentile vs. population-oriented counterinsurgency theory
Col. Gian Gentile, the original COINhata, has a fun piece in the new ish of Army History. His thesis is that the Army’s new counterinsurgency doctrine is “narrowly defined and has become dogmatic,” and relies too much on one school of thought, French theory of the 1950s and 1960s. This is the theory associated with ...
Col. Gian Gentile, the original COINhata, has a fun piece in the new ish of Army History. His thesis is that the Army's new counterinsurgency doctrine is "narrowly defined and has become dogmatic," and relies too much on one school of thought, French theory of the 1950s and 1960s. This is the theory associated with David Galula, he says, that focuses on protecting the population and separating it from the insurgent.
Col. Gian Gentile, the original COINhata, has a fun piece in the new ish of Army History. His thesis is that the Army’s new counterinsurgency doctrine is “narrowly defined and has become dogmatic,” and relies too much on one school of thought, French theory of the 1950s and 1960s. This is the theory associated with David Galula, he says, that focuses on protecting the population and separating it from the insurgent.
But it seems to me that Gentile defines the theory too narrowly. It wasn’t just the French who have argued that the people are the prize, to be won over and supported. British commanders in the revolution belatedly recognized this as the correct strategy. “I never had an idea of subduing the Americans,” explained Gen. James Robertson. “I meant to asst the good Americans to subdue the bad.”
Reading through the footnotes to the article, it occurred to me that two of the leading lights in the counterinsurgency debate, Conrad Crane (on the pro side) and Gentile (on the anti) are both Army officers who did their doctoral dissertations on airpower.
MAMJODH/Flickr
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