1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910338023403321

Autore

Grice Francis

Titolo

The Myth of Mao Zedong and Modern Insurgency / / by Francis Grice

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cham : , : Springer International Publishing : , : Imprint : Palgrave Macmillan, , 2019

ISBN

3-319-77571-5

Edizione

[1st ed. 2019.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (XI, 219 p.)

Disciplina

303.625

Soggetti

Terrorism

Political violence

Political theory

World politics

Political leadership

Peace

Terrorism and Political Violence

Political Theory

Political History

Political Leadership

Conflict Studies

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di contenuto

1. Introduction -- 2. What Mao Actually Taught -- 3. The Unoriginal Mao -- 4. Mao and the Chinese Revolutionary Civil War -- 5. The Insignificant Mao -- 6. The Deification of Mao -- 7. Conclusion.

Sommario/riassunto

Tackling one of the most prevalent myths about insurgencies, this book examines and rebuts the popular belief that Mao Zedong created a fundamentally new form of warfare that transformed the nature of modern insurgency. The labeling of an insurgent enemy as using “Maoist Warfare” has been a common phenomenon since Mao’s victory over the Guomindang in 1949, from Malaya and Vietnam during the Cold War to Afghanistan and Syria today. Yet, this practice is heavily flawed. This book argues that Mao did not invent a new breed of insurgency, failed to produce a coherent vision of how insurgencies



should be fought, and was not influential in his impact upon subsequent insurgencies. Consequently, Mao’s writings cannot be used to generate meaningful insights for understanding those insurgencies that came after him. This means that scholars and policymakers should stop using Mao as a tool for understanding insurgencies and as a straw man against whom to target counterinsurgency strategies. Francis Grice is Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Studies at McDaniel College, USA.