Acey (2013) Winning Hearts and Minds.
Citation: Acey, Philip (2013) Winning Hearts and Minds: Population-Centric Counterinsurgency in the North Caucasus Federal District, Master’s Thesis, University of Tampere, accessed on 20 November 2013 at https://tampub.uta.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/84633/gradu06767.pdf?sequence=1.
Time Period Covered:
Theory, Research Question, Hypothesis:
North Caucasus insurgency poses a threat both to Russia and international security. Russia has previously pursued enemy-centric insurgency without addressing the root causes of the conflict (weak governance, corruption, lack of identity, economic stagnation, military abuses); seeks to understand whether, since the creation of the North Caucasus Federal District in 2010, Russia has switched to population-centric counterinsurgency.
Relationship to Other Research/Ideas Contested/Noted Gaps:
Concepts and Definitions:
Acey (2013:i): “Population-centric counterinsurgency is a strategy implemented by a government to win the “hearts and minds”, meaning the support of the target population to create an environment of support for the counterinsurgent, whereby support for an insurgency decreases and long-term stability is achieved through nation-building, encompassing the strengthening and maintenance of all forms of national power: the political, informational, military, and economic elements.”
Acey (2013:i): three Logical Lines of Operation (LLOs): governance, economic development/essential services, and combat/civil security operations based upon the United States Army Counterinsurgency Field Manual No. 3-24
Method:
Ethnography: spent three weeks travelling across six republics in the NCFD (excluding Karachayevo-Cherkessia) to observe implementation of government strategy in LLOs.
Primary/Original Data:
Six semi-structured interviews on government strategy, including one in St Petersburg.
Argument/Conclusion:
Limitations/Flaws:
Abstract:
Notes: