Revolutionary Change

You cannot understand irregular warfare, internal "people's wars", or insurgency without these concepts. I was introduced to this book by Dr. Gordon McCormick in his well known Guerrilla Warfare Course at the Naval Postgraduate School. This was the first book read to understand the foundation of society, and the disequilibrium that causes internal conflict to manifest into violence.A bit dry at times, but every section is critical to understanding the next. A must read for any special operations leader, or anyone studying wars of the people.

This is a sociology book written in the typical dense sociological format (sociological jargon). Sociology is the study of patterns of social behavior - its like the saying "history repeats itself", Sociology documents those repeats. The book was writen in 1966 but the material is still relevant today particularly in post 9-11 terrorism. CHAPTER 8 is devoted to the topic of terrorism. On PAGE 156 the author descusses political terrorism and the consequences or aftermath of a terrorist attack.From the book word for word CHPT 8 PG 156-157"by demonstrating through apparently indiscriminate violence that the existing regime cannot protect the people nominally under its authority. The effect on the individual is supposedly not only anxiety, but withdrawal from the relationships making up the established order of society. .... usually has the opposite effect of calling people's attention to the seriousness of the situation and encouraging them to support any strong reassertion of authority""..provoke the ruling elites into a disastrous overreaction, thereby creating widespread sentiment against them. ...transform the political situation of the country into a military situation. That will alienate the masses, who, from then on, will revolt against the army and the police and blame them for this state of things."Its a good book. I recomend it for sociology student but for the typical reader, you might have a problem with all the sociology jargon.

Great book.