The Killer Tiger Roared
The Killer Tiger Roared:
A Strategic Analysis of Sri Lankan “Kinetic” Counterinsurgency and its Theoretical Implications
by Christian Chung
Download the Full Article: The Killer Tiger Roared
Conventional wisdom and recent developments in the study of the art of conducting “traditional” counterinsurgency (COIN) has defined the importance of a population-centric approach to COIN in which a “whole of government”, integrated political component is central to an effective partnership with the host nation in ultimately defeating the insurgency.
Using an analysis of the COIN campaign in Sri Lanka against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, this study contends that governments conducting COIN against an insurgency that has a primary focus on military-kinetic operations, and not on building political legitimacy with the population, can defeat the insurgency by competitively executing a hyper-kinetic COIN strategy, in which political reform is not emphasized, political strategy is diminished, and armed force “kinetic” operations are mainly utilized.
This study further extends this strategic comparison to encompass a renewed outlook on COIN strategy: that COIN, in both Foreign Internal Defense and Internal COIN, is a strategic competition with the nature of the insurgency itself, through the principle of adaptive competitive strategic advantage; and as such, any predisposition to a “population-centric” approach is a fallacy in outlook.
The article demonstrates, in its analysis of Internal COIN, that the nature of counterinsurgency for a particular campaign is defined by the nature of the insurgency as well as the nature of the counterinsurgent force, and not merely by executing the staple strategy of winning the “hearts and minds” of an indigenous population without prior proper analysis.
Download the Full Article: The Killer Tiger Roared
Christian Chung is a high school senior attending a full time dual enrolled college program, at The College Academy at Broward College. The article is part of an independent original research project conducted with the Social Science department at BC on COIN.
