A HALF CENTURY OF INSURGENCY: THE ONGOING EFFORTS OF THE PHILIPPINES TO QUELL THE INSURGENCY IN THE SOUTH
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Authors
Mitchell, Eric L.
Subjects
insurgency
counterinsurgency
Philippines
Mindanao
Chechnya
counterinsurgency
Philippines
Mindanao
Chechnya
Advisors
Malley, Michael S.
Date of Issue
2018-06
Date
Publisher
Monterey, CA; Naval Postgraduate School
Language
Abstract
The Southern Philippines has remained embroiled in insurgency for nearly 50 years. This thesis traces the insurgency through three distinct phases: the first two phases represent an ethno-nationalist insurgency, and the latest phase results from a qualitative shift toward a Pan-Islamic insurgency. While the Philippine government successfully ended the first two phases, the third phase of insurgency is composed of disparate groups that are linked to global jihadist organizations. Using a comparative study of Russia's counterinsurgency efforts in Chechnya, this thesis examines why the Philippine government has not yet successfully ended the decades-long insurgency. The Philippine and Chechen cases have numerous similarities, showing a comparable pattern of insurgency. However, the two countries waged drastically different counterinsurgency campaigns, and the two cases have divergent outcomes.
This thesis finds that Russia's "Chechenization" strategy, which decentralized the counterinsurgency and pushed counterinsurgency functions down to the local level, was the cornerstone of its success. In the Philippines, counterinsurgency efforts have remained mostly centralized under the armed forces of the Philippines, with no serious effort made to localize them. This suggests that the Philippines may need to consider employing a localization strategy in order to defeat the current insurgency.
Type
Thesis
Description
Series/Report No
Department
National Security Affairs (NSA)
Organization
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
Sponsors
Funder
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Citation
Distribution Statement
Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
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.