Overview

It Takes More than a Network presents a structured investigation of the Iraqi insurgency's capacity for and conduct of organizational adaptation. In particular, it answers the question of why the Iraqi insurgency was seemingly so successful between 2003 and late 2006 and yet nearly totally collapsed by 2008. The book's main argument is that the Iraqi insurgency failed to achieve longer-term organizational goals because many of its organizational strengths were also its organizational weaknesses: these characteristics abetted and then corrupted the Iraqi insurgency's ability to adapt. The book further compares the organizational adaptation of the Iraqi insurgency with the organizational adaptation of the Afghan insurgency. This is done to refine the findings of the Iraq case and to present a more robust analysis of the adaptive cycles of two large and diverse covert networked insurgencies. The book finds that the Afghan insurgency, although still ongoing, has adapted more successfully than the Iraqi insurgency because it has been better able to leverage the strengths and counter the weaknesses of its chosen organizational form.

Full Product Details

9780804789035

Table of Contents

Reviews

This is a powerful and important book that offers an original and compelling interpretation of why the Iraqi insurgency failed but the Afghan insurgency has proven more resilient. The author finds the answer in the relative capacity of the two insurgencies to adapt to U.S. counter-insurgency strategy and tactics. Serena brilliantly explains how the initial strengths of the Iraqi insurgency subsequently became weaknesses that the US was able to exploit and how this has not happened in Afghanistan. The analysis is subtle and sophisticated, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses, paradoxes and contradictions, and dilemmas and tradeoffs that characterize network organizations. Overall this is a major contribution to the understanding of networked armed groups and how governments can neutralize them. Should be compulsory reading for scholars, military planners, and policy-makers. --Phil Williams, Posvar Chair and Director of the Ridgway Center, University of Pittsburgh

Author Information

Chad Serena is a Political Scientist with the RAND Corporation.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available