The Triangle Offense: Using Social Movement Theory to Analyze Russia's Gray Zone Strategy

Abstract

Social Movement Theory (SMT), which came into being during the 1960s, is a compact model for analyzing organizations pursuing political objectives. Using the tripartite structure of ideological framing, resource mobilization, and political opportunity, academics and practitioners use SMT to analyze everything from civil rights groups to religious insurgencies. However, there is no existing SMT application to the gray zone, which represents one of the greatest challenges facing the United States today. This thesis reviews the current literature on both the gray zone and SMT, creates an SMT analytical model, and then applies the model to case studies on Russia and Ukraine. Under proper analysis, SMT can identify existing sources of tension in a gray zone adversary, likely vulnerabilities in a target region, and potential countermeasures for senior strategists and commanders.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 21, 2017
Accession Number
AD1032497

Entities

People

  • Alexander V. Simmons

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • C4I
  • Counter WMD
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Cis
  • Gray Zone
  • Hybrid Warfare
  • Insurgency
  • Interagency Coordination
  • Intergovernmental Organizations
  • International Organizations
  • International Relations
  • Law
  • National Politics
  • National Security
  • Sociopolitics
  • Unified Combatant Commands
  • United States
  • Ussr
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Marine Ecological Systems Migration
  • Political Violence and Terrorism Studies.