ABSTRACT
This chapter examines irregular warfare as an innovative option, not only for non-state actors but also for conventional armies, through three different case studies. These different case studies involve three historical examples where irregular warfare was used innovatively and creatively. The first example is the British experience behind the German lines during World War II. The second involves the practices outside conventional warfare that the US Army attempted to introduce during the Vietnam War. The last example involves the counterinsurgency operations of the coalition forces in Afghanistan and Iraq after the September 11 attacks. Through these examples, this chapter will focus on the meaning of the concept of contemporary irregular warfare and how it has been interpreted, and will explore the changing irregular warfare approach of the Turkish Armed Forces to better understand the current significance of irregular warfare. This chapter mainly argues that irregular warfare has been evaluated as a novel and innovative option in times of stalemate, crisis, and or despair. In a modern war environment dominated by hybrid threats and asymmetric conflicts, the irregular capacities, and creative combinations of conventional and unconventional capabilities still present innovative opportunities for conventional armies as well as non-state actors.
