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counterinsurgency

counterinsurgency

24 8.5
Measures by a government to fight armed groups inside a country
  • noun
  • /ˌkaʊntərɪnˈsɜrdʒənsi/
  • Specialized
translation icon : contrainsurgencia
  • Before the Taliban takeover, the Afghan National Police did both traditional police work and had a role in counterinsurgency operations.
  • counterinsurgency campaign
  • counterinsurgency doctrine
  • counterinsurgency operations

After three years of riots and pogroms and a brutal British LED counterinsurgency, we should say London gave way to much of Husseini's demands.

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Examples

  • All this indicates that counterinsurgency efforts are very unlikely to succeed in the foreseeable future.

    Academic text (2011)
  • From 1948 through 1960, the British army fought a counterinsurgency campaign in what was then called Malaya.

    Academic text (1999)
  • The thing about counterinsurgency is that it doesn't really work.

  • At the end of 2006, the Army and Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual was published.

    Academic text (2011)
  • For one thing, U.S. forces became more effective and discriminating in their counterinsurgency activities.

    Academic text (2008)
  • In Afghanistan and Iraq, we have gained the essential skills for counterinsurgency and nation-building.

    Academic text (2011)
  • Partially the work of General David Petraeus, it laid out the counterinsurgency doctrine that would change Iraq.

    Academic text (2011)
  • Odierno implemented Obama's plan by shifting the mission of the remaining U.S. forces from counterinsurgency to stability operations.

    Academic text (2011)
  • The SADF often observed that its counterinsurgency effort was only one-fifth military, the other four-fifths being political.

    Academic text (1993)
  • The government implemented a comprehensive counterinsurgency plan to restore stability in the region.

Synonyms

pacification
vscounterinsurgency
  • Specialized
3 7.7

Government actions to stop armed groups and restore public order using force

uses military, political, and social measures over time to remove rebel threats
counterguerrilla
vscounterinsurgency
  • Specialized
8.8

Methods and plans for fighting guerrilla fighters

focuses more broadly on political and social measures as well as military action

Antonyms

insurgency
  • Literature
54 8.4

A planned action by a group, often using weapons or secret actions, to take control from the government

Surface Forms

Morphology

counterinsurgency = insurgency (transparent) = counter + insurgency

The word is a straightforward prefixation: 'counter' (against) + 'insurgency' (rebellion) meaning actions opposing an insurgency.

Etymology

Counterinsurgency is made from counter- meaning 'against' and insurgency, which comes from a root meaning 'to rise up' and is the same root as surge ('a sudden rise'). So, counterinsurgency means actions taken to work 'against' people who 'rise up' or rebel.