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COIN: A study of strategic illusion

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  • Amitai Etzioni

Abstract

Has the US military become a learning institution, one able to transition from relying on a conventional war model to fighting against irregular adversaries such as insurgents and terrorists? This article examines the United States' interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan in an effort to respond to this question. It shows that there are two major ways for a military to fail to be a ‘learning’ institution: It may stick to its old dogma or – adopt a flawed new one. Those who saw counterinsurgency (COIN) doctrine as the best way to stabilize Iraq and Afghanistan made the US military into a learning organization – but taught it the wrong lesson. They failed to take into account the absence of the sociological conditions that make a post-conflict environment amenable to nation-building, which is an integral part of the main variants of counterinsurgency. The article closes by outlining the foremost reasons the US military continues to be a poorly adaptive organization.

Suggested Citation

  • Amitai Etzioni, 2015. "COIN: A study of strategic illusion," Small Wars and Insurgencies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(3), pages 345-376, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:fswixx:v:26:y:2015:i:3:p:345-376
    DOI: 10.1080/09592318.2014.982882
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