Revisiting the Social Movement Approach to Unconventional Warfare

Abstract

The movement to understand the nature of Unconventional Warfare through the lens of Special Movement Theory is a continuing effort. Since the article “A Social Movement Approach to UW” appeared in Special Warfare Magazine, last year, the concept has received a healthy dose of positive and critical feedback.[i] While the uprisings during the Arab Spring demonstrated the enduring utility of civil unrest in bringing about political change, the crisis in Ukraine forced us to sharpen our understanding of how to fuse civil unrest with unconventional warfare. Earlier this year, looking for ways to understand the contemporary threats and challenges, SOCOM FMD asked a series of questions about how to operationalize the social movement approach. In this article, we will attempt to answer those questions and share some insight of this approach which can provide a framework of how to leverage existing opposition movements in support of an unconventional warfare (UW) campaign.