This book, based on extensive field research, examines the Indian state's response to the multiple insurgencies that have occurred since independence in 1947.

In reacting to these various insurgencies, the Indian state has employed a combined approach of force, dialogue, accommodation of ethnic and minority aspirations and, overtime, the state has established a tradition of negotiation with armed ethnic groups in order to bolster its legitimacy based on an accommodative posture. While these efforts have succeeded in resolving the Mizo insurgency, it has only incited levels of...

This book presents a theory and empirical evidence for how security forces can identify militant suspects during counterinsurgency operations.

A major oversight on the part of academics and practitioners has been to ignore the critical antecedent issue common to persuasion and coercion counterinsurgency (COIN) approaches: distinguishing friend from foe. This book proposes that the behaviour of security forces influences the likelihood of militant identification during a COIN campaign, and argues that security forces must respect civilian safety in order to create a credible...

This book offers a detailed examination of the counterinsurgency operations undertaken by the Nigerian military against Boko Haram between 2011 and 2017.

Based on extensive fieldwork conducted with military units in Nigeria, the book has two main aims. First, it seeks to provide an understanding of the Nigerian military's internal role - a role that today, as a result of internal threats, pivots towards counter-insurgency. The book illustrates how organizational culture, historical experience, institutions, and doctrine, are critical to understanding the Nigerian military and its...