ABSTRACT
Insurgency, the effort to overthrow the government of a state carried out by internal groups using violence, has been with us since organized states have been in existence. Although insurgency has been one of the most common forms of conflict, no theories of counterinsurgency appeared until the end of the nineteenth century. To well into the twentieth century insurgency was commonly seen as a military problem which simply required the government to send troops to defeat the insurgents. However, as states, societies, and economies grew in complexity and organization, so did insurgencies.
