The Philippine NPA (New People's Army) Insurgency: A Center of Gravity Analysis.

Abstract

The intent of this paper is to identify the center of gravity of the New People's Army insurgency in the Philippines. In order to accomplish this task an indepth review of the origins and major characteristics of communist revolutionary warfare was first under taken so that these characteristics could then be applied to the particular situation in the Philippines. The NPA insurgency was then analyzed using the four main components of revolutionary war-Party, Military Arm, Population, and Secure Base Areas. The purpose of the analysis was to determined the main element upon which the whole force of the movement rests. Finally, conclusions and recommendations for national policy makers were offered. The perspective of this paper is strategic and operational vice tactical and strictly unclassified sources were used throughout in order to not get bogged down in tactical details. Accordingly, this paper does not attempt to recommend specific counter-insurgency strategies nor review NPA tactical strategy except when appropriate to the strategic and operational perspective.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 1988
Accession Number
ADA191693

Entities

People

  • Stephen A. Spottswood

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Engineered Resilient Systems
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Center Of Gravity
  • Civil Rights
  • Commerce
  • Counterinsurgency
  • Economic Systems
  • Guerrilla Warfare
  • Insurgency
  • Military Organizations
  • Security
  • Social Welfare
  • Societies
  • Students
  • Terrorists
  • Urban Areas
  • Violence
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Military and Counterinsurgency Studies.
  • Systems Analysis and Design