From People's War to People's Rule: Insurgency, Intervention, and the Lessons of Vietnam - Softcover

Lomperis, Timothy J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0807845779 ISBN 13: 9780807845776

Publisher: University North Carolina Pr, 1996

Synopsis

Timothy Lomperis persuasively argues the ironic point that the lessons of American involvement in Vietnam are not to be found in any analysis of the war by itself. Rather, he proposes a comparison of the Vietnam experience with seven other cases of Western intervention in communist insurgencies during the Cold War era: China, Indochina, Greece, the Philippines, Malaya, Cambodia, and Laos.

Lomperis maintains that popular insurgencies are manifestations of crises in political legitimacy, which occur as a result of the societal stresses caused by modernization. Therefore, he argues, any intervention in a 'people's war' will succeed or fail depending on how it affects this crisis. The unifying theme in the cases Lomperis discusses is the power of land reform and electoral democracy to cement political legitimacy and therefore deflect revolutionary movements. Applying this theory to the ongoing Sendero Luminoso insurgency in Peru, Lomperis makes a qualified prediction of that conflict's outcome. He concludes that a global trend toward democratization has produced a new era of 'people's rule.'

About this title

About the Author

Timothy J. Lomperis is professor and chair of the department of political science at Saint Louis University.

From the Back Cover

Timothy Lomperis persuasively argues the ironic point that the lessons of American involvement in Vietnam are not to be found in any analysis of the war by itself. Rather, he proposes a comparison of the Vietnam experience with seven other cases of Western intervention in communist insurgencies during the Cold War era: China, Indochina, Greece, the Philippines, Malaya, Cambodia, and Laos.

Edition details

• Publisher: University North Carolina Pr
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0807845779
• ISBN 13: 9780807845776
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 456