Tribalism and the Future of Conflict
Authors
Zellin, Barry
Zellen, Barry
Subjects
Advisors
Date of Issue
2008-06-12
Date
6/12/2008
Publisher
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
Program for Culture and Conflict Studies
Program for Culture and Conflict Studies
Language
Abstract
"Human Terrain Mapping (HTM) presents an increasingly accepted solution for achieving victory in the Long War, enhancing security in regions deemed to be largely ungoverned or where state failure and regime collapse have left a political and security vacuum. Using HTM, warfighters as well as stabilization and reconstruction (S&R) teams are able to develop detailed, highly granular cultural knowledge to help focus the application of force and to customize S&R efforts in many parts of the world. Interestingly, the most sparsely inhabited regions, whether barren desert, arctic tundra, high alpine, or lush tropical forest zones, are seldom truly ungoverned, but are in fact governed by sub-state structures that often lack formal sovereignty but which exert tremendous authority at the local and regional level. Many of these so-called 'ungoverned territories' of concern to counterterrorism experts are in fact zones of tribal governance, populated by tribal remnants from the pre-modern world that continue to inhabit these isolated regions where the modern state has never fully penetrated, reflecting a continued underlying tribal topology of the world's frontier regions."
Type
Article
Description
This article was published in Culture and Conflict Review (Summer 2008), v.2 no.3
Series/Report No
The Culture and Content Review (Journal), 2007-2012
Department
Organization
Center on Contemporary Conflict (CCC)
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
Sponsors
Funder
Format
Citation
Culture and Conflict Review (Summer 2008), v.2 no.3
Distribution Statement
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.