Publisher's Synopsis
The post-Cold War world has challenged the paradigm of Western great powers that have dominated world affairs since the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, which granted permanent and special status to sovereign states. Resistance movements targeting established governmental authority have existed since antiquity, but the prominence of internal conflict in world affairs has grown in the twenty-first century as civil wars have replaced interstate wars in frequency. Conventional warfare, though still relevant, demonstrated its limits in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and the prevalence of insurgencies, coups, popular uprisings, and revolutions clearly demonstrates that future threats are likely to include a complex brew of irregular conflict centred on resistance movements. Preparing to meet such a challenge requires a disciplined approach to understanding resistance movements.
