Knowra Irregular warfare Irregular warfare Irregular warfare is a struggle among state and nonstate actors for legitimacy and influence, using indirect, unconventional, or nonmilitary methods alongside or instead of conventional combat.
Insurgency : An organized movement that seeks to weaken or overthrow an established authority through subversion and armed struggle. Insurgency is a common form of irregular warfare centered on challenging state authority.
Legitimacy (political science) : The recognized right of a government or authority to rule. Irregular warfare often turns on whether populations accept a side's claim to govern.
Lawrence of Arabia : T. E. Lawrence was a British officer who advised Arab forces during the Arab Revolt of 1916–1918. His account of supporting an indigenous revolt influenced later thinking about irregular campaigns.
Conventional warfare : Armed conflict primarily conducted by regular military forces using conventional weapons and established military doctrine. It contrasts with approaches that rely on indirect methods, irregular forces, or political influence.
Hearts and minds : A strategy of gaining civilian support through security, governance, and social or economic measures. It expresses how popular allegiance can become an objective alongside territorial control.
Counterinsurgency : Political, military, and civilian measures used to defeat an insurgency and address its sources of support. It describes how authorities contest insurgents for security and legitimacy.
Non-state actor : An organized entity that participates in international or political affairs without being a state government. Such actors can organize, fight, or influence without the resources and status of states.
Mao Zedong : Mao Zedong was a Chinese communist revolutionary who led the Communist Party to power in China. His writings systematized protracted revolutionary warfare and its relationship to political mobilization.
Total war : A form of warfare that mobilizes a society's resources and population toward an extensive war effort. Total war describes the scale of mobilization, not the irregular character of a contest.
Human security : An approach to security focused on protecting people from threats to their lives, livelihoods, and dignity. Civilian safety and welfare often determine whether political influence can endure.
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