Trends in Outside Support for Insurgent Movements - Softcover

Byman, Daniel L.; Chalk, Peter; Hoffman, Bruce; Rosenau, William; Brannan, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0833030523 ISBN 13: 9780833030528

Publisher: RAND, 2001

Synopsis

The most useful forms of outside support for an insurgent movement include safe havens, financial support, political backing, and direct military assistance. Because states are able to provide all of these types of assistance, their support has had a profound impact on the effectiveness of many rebel movements since the end of the Cold War. However

About this title

Synopsis

Outside supporters, including state and non-state sponsors, of insurgent movements offer various forms of assistance to insurgents based on a wide range of motivations. The most useful forms of outside support for an insurgent movement include safe havens, financial support, political backing, and direct military assistance. Because states are able to provide all of these types of assistance, their support has had a profound impact on the effectiveness of many rebel movements since the end of the Cold War. However, state support is no longer the only, or indeed necessarily the most important, game in town. Diasporas have played a particularly important role in sustaining several strong insurgencies. More rarely, refugees, guerrilla groups, or other types of non-state supporters play a significant role in creating or sustaining an insurgency, offering fighters, training, or other forms of assistance. This report assesses post-Cold War trends in external support for insurgent movements. It describes the frequency that states, diasporas, refugees, and other non-state actors back guerrilla movements.

It also assesses the motivations of these actors and which types of support matter most. This book concludes by assessing the implications for analysts of insurgent movements.

About the Author

Daniel Byman is Assistant Professor in the Security Program of the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He has published widely on issues related to terrorism, Middle East politics, and national security. He is also a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution and has served on the staff of the '9/11 Commission', among other positions. He is the author of The Dynamics of Coercion: American Foreign Policy and the Limits of Military Might (2002), and Keeping the Peace: Lasting Solutions to Ethnic Conflicts (2002).

Edition details

• Publisher: RAND
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0833030523
• ISBN 13: 9780833030528
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 138