LATEST NEWS
New COIN Era reviewed in Contemporary Security Policy
20 August 2010 – Aaron Karp, Lecturer in the Department of Political Science and Geography at Old Dominion University, has penned a review of The New Counterinsurgency Era in the latest issue of Contemporary Security Policy:
“David Ucko’s The New Counterinsurgency Era, is a deceptive work. Its restrained, almost flat tone conceals a vigorous attack on the US Department of Defense.”
The rest of the review can be found here. The book itself has recently been released in Kindle format.
Politics article on British counterinsurgency in Basra
4 August 2010 – Alex Stevenson covers my article on British counterinsurgency at Politics.co.uk. His article provides a quite good snapshot of my full-length journal article, which you can find here.
Article on British counterinsurgency in Basra now out in Survival
22 July 2010 – Survival, the bi-monthly journal of the International Institute of Strategic Studies, has just released its most recent issue, which includes my article on ‘Lessons from Basra: the Future of British Counter-Insurgency’. The article revisits what happened during Operation Telic and, based on this account, makes some broader points about the bleak future of British counter-insurgency, once held as the masters of how to conduct such operations.
Here is the abstract (full access to journal requires log-in).
Public and media attention over the ongoing Iraq Inquiry commissioned by the UK government in summer 2009 has focused primarily on Prime Minister Tony Blair’s determination to involve the UK in the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. But for Britain’s role in international peace and security, the conduct of operations in Iraq and the circumstances of the British withdrawal in 2009 are likely to have effects as far-reaching as the initial invasion of the country in 2003. The lessons the armed forces draw from this campaign, how they interpret it, will inform both the British military’s future relation to counter-insurgency and the future of British civil-military relations.
New COIN Era reviewed in Political Science Quarterly
1 July 2010 – Andrea M. Lopez, Associate Professor at Susquehanna University, has reviewed The New Counterinsurgency Era in the latest issue of the Political Science Quarterly:
“Ucko goes into great depth regarding how the DoD – and in particular the U.S. Army and Marines – relearned the lessons of Vietnam and other counterinsurgencies by adjusting technology, doctrine, force structure, and culture and education of personnel. Yet, as Ucko expertly reveals, there continues to be ambivalence within the DoD toward counterinsurgency.”
The rest of the review can be found here. The book itself has recently been released in Kindle format.
Reintegrating Armed Groups reviewed in Journal of Strategic Studies
19 June 2010 – Florian Otto, PhD candidate at the Department of War Studies, King’s College London, has reviewed Reintegrating Armed Groups after Conflict: Politics, Violence and Transition in the latest issue of the Journal for Strategic Studies:
“The editors deserve praise for bringing together eight thoroughly researched and insightful as well as highly readable articles. Berdal’s and Ucko’s book furthermore merits attention because it highlights that political reintegration is, above all, ‘political’…. The book is particularly recommended to students and scholars researching post-conflict reconstruction, peace-building and structural conflict prevention as well as to practitioners active in these fields.”
The rest of the review can be found here. The book itself is soon to be released in paperback and can be preordered from Amazon.
Defence Studies releases double issue on ‘The Janus Face of War: Counter Insurgency in the Post Modern Era’
30 May 2010 – Defence Studies, the official journal of the Joint Services Command and Staff College, has released a double issue dedicated to the ‘The Janus Face of War: Counter Insurgency in the Post Modern Era’. Volume 10, issues 1 and 2 of the journal holds many gems, along with an article of mine entitled ‘The Malayan Emergency: The Legacy and Relevance of a Counter-Insurgency Success Story’. Here is the abstract (full access to journal requires log-in):
The Malayan Emergency has long been presented as a rare counter-insurgency success story, one in which the insurgents were defeated and an independent, democratic and multi-ethnic state emerged. Because of this status, the Malaya campaign has tended to be over-farmed for useful parallels and ‘lessons learned’. Not only has this resulted (and built on) superficial historical analysis; it has also engendered a backlash, with scholars increasingly questioning the current relevance of the campaign, along with its portrayal as a ‘success-story’. This article engages with this polemic by providing a historical analysis of the Malayan Emergency and answering three questions central to its historiography: was it a ‘model’ counter- insurgency campaign; what does it tell us about the ‘British approach’ to low-intensity conflict; and is it at all relevant to our understanding and prosecution of counter-insurgency today and tomorrow?
Reintegrating Armed Groups After Conflict paperback now available for pre-order
25 May 2010 – Reintegrating Armed Groups After Conflict: Politics, Violence and Transitions is now available to pre-order in paperback, via Amazon.
New Counterinsurgency Era now available for Kindle
20 May 2010 – The New Counterinsurgency Era: Transforming the U.S. Military for Modern Wars is now available for Kindle, via Amazon.
Blog moving to Kings of War
30 January 2010 – My blog is moving over to Kings of War.
The New Counterinsurgency Era reviewed in International Affairs
28 January 2010 – Richard Bennet of the Council on Foreign Relations reviews The New Counterinsurgency Era in volume 86, issue 1 of Chatham House’s International Affairs.
“Ucko shows his strong command over the events in Iraq as they transpired, the reaction those events produced in Washington and the subsequent doctrinal changes that resulted…The book may indeed come to serve as a place marker at this critical juncture in American military history”.
The rest of the review is available here, though Athens log-in is needed.
New Sécurité Globale Issue on Counterinsurgency
28 January 2010 – The latest issue of Sécurité Globale, edited by Georges-Henri bricet des Vallons and Stéphane Taillat is now out, and includes an article I wrote on the dilemmas of U.S. counterinsurgency doctrine. You should be able to buy the issue here though the site appears to be having some trouble at the moment.
Mark Moynar’s Question of Command Reviewed in Journal of Military Affairs
8 January 2010 – The latest issue of the Journal of Military History includes my review of Mark Moyar’s book, A Question of Command: Counterinsurgency from the Civil War to Iraq (Yale University Press, 2009). You can read the whole review here.
Eliot Cohen reviews The New Counterinsurgency Era in the Washington Post
5 December 2009 – Professor Eliot A. Cohen included The New Counterinsurgency Era in his review article for the Washington Post, looking at recently published works on counterinsurgency. The article, ‘Obama’s COIN Toss‘, makes some very good point about the prospects for Afghanistan and the meaning of strategy. About my book in particular, Cohen writes:
“’The New Counterinsurgency Era’ is a dense, scholarly and useful work on how the American military adapted to counterinsurgency during the Iraq war, both on the ground and in the classrooms of Fort Leavenworth.”
You can read the whole article here.
Reviews of The New Counterinsurgency Era
25 November 2009 – Jonathan Stevenson has reviewed my book, The New Counterinsurgency Era, in the latest issue of Survival, the bimonthly journal of the International Institute for Strategic Studies. The review can be found in vol. 51, no. 6 of Survival.
“Ucko’s book is an impressive effort, and an invaluable resource for anyone who wants to understand the halting, ambivalent and, as Ucko wisely notes, quite reversible evolution of the US military”.
Paul McLeary also reviewed The New Counterinsurgency Era for the October issue of Aviation Week, focusing primarily on the analysis of the 2006 quadrennial defence review (QDR). Accessing the article, entitled “Happy Talk but No Results”, will require a subscription to Aviation Week.
“While the QDR sounded some hopeful notes for change in the department, it also failed to make decisions, or even recommendations, on procurement issues or force structure alternations that would have to accompany the change in thinking it proposed.
Presentation on U.S. Counterinsurgency Doctrine at Naval War College
18 November 2009 – The Naval War College has posted the videos from its conference on Irregular War, held in early September 2009. You can see all of the presentations, including my own – on U.S. military counterinsurgency doctrine – here.
Abu Muqawama Interview on New Counterinsurgency Era
6 November 2009 — Andrew Exum over at Abu Muqawama featured my book on his blog, Abu Muqawama, and asked me some very important but difficult questions. You can read the whole interview here.
Out now: Cooperating for Peace and Security
2 November 2009 – Bruce C. Jones, Shepard Forman and Richard Gowan, all of the Center for International Cooperation, New York University, have just come out with Cooperating for Peace and Security: Evolving Institutions and Arrangements in a Context of Changing U.S. Security Policy (Cambridge University Press). The book includes a chapter, ‘Whither NATO?’, written by Professor Mats Berdal, King’s College London, and myself on the evolution of NATO and its possible role in international peace and security. Click to read the rest of this post.
Reintegrating Armed Groups After Conflict: review in Survival
29 September 2009 — Brig.-Gen. H. R. McMaster, U.S. Army, reviewed Reintegrating Armed Groups After Conflict: Violence, and Transition (Routledge, 2009) in volume 51, issue 5 of Survival, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) bi-monthly journal of global politics and strategy:
“This is an important book that should be at the top of the reading lists of practitioners and policymakers involved in peacekeeping, counter-insurgency, post-conflict stability and DDR efforts.”
You can find the complete review here.
Interview with International Affairs Forum
18 September 2009 — The International Affairs Forum, of the Center for International Relations, interviewed me about my book, The New Counterinsurgency Era: Transforming the U.S. Military for Modern Wars. Read it here.
Congress Quarterly coverage of New Counterinsurgency Era
11 September 2009 — Tim Starks and Matthew M. Johnson of CQ.com cover my appearance at the Center for a New American Security together with Dr John Nagl. See:
- Tim Starks, ‘RAND Analyst Says Pentagon Needs to “Institutionalize” CI Doctrine’, CQ Homeland Security, 11 September 2009.
- Matthew M. Johnson, ‘Levin Does Not Plan To Legislate Quickening Expansion of Afghan Security Forces’, CQ Today Online News – Defense, 11 September 2009.
Now available: The New Counterinsurgency Era
July 2009 — My book, The New Counterinsurgency Era: Transforming the U.S. Military for Modern Wars (Washington DC: Georgetown University Press, 2009) is now available for purchase, in hardcover and in paperback.
Report on IISS Roundtable on the Role of Economics Instruments in Ending Conflict
6 May 2009 — Following the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) roundtable in Washington DC on the role of economic instruments in ending conflict, my conference report is now available online.
Now available: Reintegrating Armed Groups After Conflict: Politics, Violence and Transition
6 April 2009 — My book, Reintegrating Armed Groups After Conflict: Politics, Violence and Transition, (Abingdon: Routledge, 2009), coedited by Mats Berdal and myself, is now out and available for purchase.
