Description
Book SynopsisFor both the United States and United Kingdom counterinsurgency was a serious component of security policy during the Cold War and, along with counterterrorism, has been the greatest security challenge after September 11, 2001. In The Soul of Armies, Austin Long compares and contrasts counterinsurgency operations during the Cold War and in recent years by three organizations: the US Army, the US Marine Corps, and the British Army.
Long argues that the formative experiences of these three organizations as they professionalized in the nineteenth century has produced distinctive organizational cultures that shape operations. Combining archival research on counterinsurgency campaigns in Vietnam and Kenya with the author's personal experience as a civilian advisor to the military in Iraq and Afghanistan, The Soul of Armies demonstrates that the US Army has persistently conducted counterinsurgency operations in a very different way from either the US Marine Corps or t
Trade Review
In The Soul of Armies, Dr. Long... explores the question: how does an army's organizational culture impact how it conducts counter-insurgency? Long argues an army’s ability to execute a counter-insurgency campaign is rooted in formative experiences during the 19th century. Policymakers, military professionals, and scholars will all gain insights from this book. Long provides cause for introspection by those who variously formulate policy, conduct operations, and study this new way of war. Although Long presents convincing evidence that organizational culture impacts the conduct of counter-insurgency operations, as he points out, the key for successful campaigns must rest beyond organizational culture alone.
-- Colonel Ian C. Rice * Parameters *
Through its wealth of empirical material, it shows not only that culture matters but also how. The Soul of Armies is a must read for all those interested in where the ongoing debate on military culture, and on culture in general, is heading, and it paves the way for a return to the study of culture and of the stickiness of ideas in international politics.
* Perspectives on Politics *
Table of ContentsPreface
1. Military Doctrine and the Challenge of Counterinsurgency
2. Culture, Doctrine, and Military Professionalization
3. "The Habits and Usages of War": U.S. Army Professionalization, 1865–1962
4. From the Halls of Montezuma: Marine Corps Professionalization, 1865–1960
5. A Family of Regiments: British Army Professionalization, 1856–1948
6. "A Nasty, Untidy Mess": U.S. Counterinsurgency in Vietnam, 1960–71
7. A Natural Experiment in I Corps, 1966–68
8. Out of Africa: British Army Counterinsurgency in Kenya, 1952–56
9. Counterinsurgency in the Land of Two Rivers: The Americans and British in Iraq, 2003–8
10. Counterinsurgency in Afghanistan, 2003–11
Conclusions
