Irregular warfare as a national military strategy approach for small states

Abstract

Today, the Western way of war is mainly based on conventional strategies and organizations, with a sense of a Clausewitzian view of war: achieving victory by defeating the opponents army. Small states have been copying the larger nations way of planning for war, with limited analysis of to whether this is the most effective strategy for them. Analyses of large numbers of historical cases show that a conventional approach is a road to defeat for small states when facing larger conventional opponents. Another solution might be to change the national strategy to an irregular one. The intention of this thesis is to illuminate the potential for small states to improve the effect of their military by adopting an irregular strategy. The thesis is based on analyses of the works of recognized military thinkers, as well as three distinct historical cases. Based on the irregular strategy, the authors have described irregular tactics, organizational principles, and enabling technology.