1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910463880703321

Autore

Hashim Ahmed

Titolo

When counterinsurgency wins [[electronic resource] ] : Sri Lanka's defeat of the Tamil Tigers / / Ahmed S. Hashim

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Philadelphia, : University of Pennsylvania Press, c2013

ISBN

0-8122-0648-7

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (276 p.)

Disciplina

954.93/032

Soggetti

Counterinsurgency - Sri Lanka

Insurgency - Sri Lanka

Tamil (Indic people) - Sri Lanka - Politics and government

Electronic books.

Sri Lanka History Civil War, 1983-2009

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- CONTENTS -- Introduction -- 1. The Sri Lankan War in Context -- 2. Background to War: State Formation and Identities in Conflict -- 3. The Eelam Wars I-III Campaigns -- 4. Eelam War IV: A Military Analysis -- 5. Postwar Sri Lanka: Reconciliation or Triumphalism? -- NOTES -- BIBLIOGRAPHY -- Name Index -- Subject Index -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Sommario/riassunto

For twenty-six years, civil war tore Sri Lanka apart. Despite numerous peace talks, cease-fires, and external military and diplomatic pressure, war raged on between the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the Sinhala-dominated Sri Lankan government. Then, in 2009, the Sri Lankan military defeated the insurgents. The win was unequivocal, but the terms of victory were not. The first successful counterinsurgency campaign of the twenty-first century left the world with many questions. How did Sri Lanka ultimately win this seemingly intractable war? Will other nations facing insurgencies be able to adopt Sri Lanka's methods without encountering accusations of human rights violations? Ahmed S. Hashim-who teaches national security strategy and helped craft the U.S. counterinsurgency campaign in Iraq-investigates those questions in the first book to analyze the final stage



of the Sri Lankan civil war. When Counterinsurgency Wins traces the development of the counterinsurgency campaign in Sri Lanka from the early stages of the war to the later adaptations of the Sri Lankan government, leading up to the final campaign. The campaign itself is analyzed in terms of military strategy but is also given political and historical context-critical to comprehending the conditions that give rise to insurgent violence. The tactics of the Tamil Tigers have been emulated by militant groups in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia. Whether or not the Sri Lankan counterinsurgency campaign can or should be emulated in kind, the comprehensive, insightful coverage of When Counterinsurgency Wins holds vital lessons for strategists and students of security and defense.