Branch, Daniel, 1978-. (2010) Footprints in the sand : British colonial counterinsurgency and the war in Iraq. Politics & Society, Vol.38 (No.1). pp. 15-34. ISSN 0032-3292

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Abstract

Recent attempts to revive counterinsurgency strategies for use in Afghanistan and Iraq have been marked by a determination to learn lessons from history. Using the case of the campaign against the Mau Mau insurgency in Kenya of 1952-60, this article considers the reasons for this engagement with the past and the issues that have emerged as a consequence. The article disputes the lessons from British colonial history that have been learned by military planners, most obviously the characterization of nonmilitary forms of British counterinsurgency as nonviolent. Although it contests some of these supposed precedents for successful counterinsurgency in British military history, the article also identifies more generalizable elements of the Kenyan case. Particular emphasis is given to the effects on the nature of counterinsurgency, a reliance on locally recruited allies, and the decentralization of command.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	D History General and Old World > DA Great Britain U Military Science > U Military Science (General)
Divisions:	Faculty of Arts > History
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Counterinsurgency, Great Britain -- Military policy, Great Britain -- Colonies, Counterinsurgency -- Kenya, Counterinsurgency -- Iraq, Iraq War, 2003-2011
Journal or Publication Title:	Politics & Society
Publisher:	Sage Publications, Inc.
ISSN:	0032-3292
Date:	March 2010
Volume:	Vol.38
Number:	No.1
Number of Pages:	20
Page Range:	pp. 15-34
Identification Number:	10.1177/0032329209357882
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Conference Paper Type:	Paper
Title of Event:	Workshop on Reconsidering Counterinsurgency
Type of Event:	Workshop
Location of Event:	Santa Fe Inst, Santa Fe, NM
Date(s) of Event:	2008
URI:	http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/6405

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