Tracing the Tenets of Fourth Generation Warfare in Terrorist and Insurgent Groups

One of the dominant theories of international politics, the theory of Fourth Generation Warfare (4GW), postulates that warfare in modern era has changed and its principle are very different from the features of conventional warfare which the states so far has been engaged in. The literatures produced by the terrorists (like Abu Musab al Suri’s ‘Call for a Global Islamic Resistance’) have shown that the terrorists are fast adopting the tenets propounded by the theory of 4GW in an attempt to build a ‘global jihad’. This article tries to trace the adherence of the tenets of 4GW by the terrorists and insurgent groups, focussing on the functioning and organisation of al Qaeda with the intention of suggesting that the state forces needs to reorient their strategies to fight this new mode of asymmetric warfare in the light of new principles governing Fourth Generation Warfare. The article argues that terrorists have been far more innovative and adaptive in adopting the tenets of 4GW and if the state forces (particularly Indian forces) fail to take the hint from the terrorists and the insurgents, the victory is likely to elude them in the near future.