On Popular Response to Violence During Insurgencies

Abstract

Population behavior is a key factor in the evolution and outcome of insurgencies. This behavior is affected by the violence exerted by the insurgents and the regime. In this paper we model the effect of targeted (i.e., coercion) and misguided (i.e., collateral casualties) violence on the behavior of the population. It is shown that excess violence and poor targeting accuracy may lead to situations where population support for a certain side will vanish.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 11, 2012
Accession Number
ADA560085

Entities

People

  • Michael P. Atkinson
  • Moshe Kress

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accuracy
  • Afghanistan
  • Casualties
  • Civilian Population
  • Collateral Damage
  • Differential Equations
  • Equations
  • Ethnic Groups
  • Information Operations
  • Insurgency
  • Joint Military Activities
  • Operations Research
  • Personal Information Managers
  • Political Science
  • Sociology
  • Targeting
  • Violence

Fields of Study

  • Mathematics

Readers

  • Atmospheric Science / Meteorology, specifically Wind Wave Turbulence.
  • Military History / Militaries and War Studies
  • Military and Counterinsurgency Studies.