Draining the Sea by Filling the Graves: Investigating the Effectiveness of Indiscriminate Violence as a Counterinsurgency Strategy

2007/11/27 by Alexander B. Downes · 5 citations
Social Sciences · #Military History and Strategy #Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East #Anthropology: Ethics, History, Culture #Political science #Criminology #Law #Political economy #Sociology

paper · doi:10.1080/13698240701699631

openalex publication_date 2007/11/27 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30

Abstract

It is commonly believed in the literature on insurgency and counterinsurgency that to be effective in undermining civilian support for guerrillas, violence against noncombatants must be selective o...

Cited by

• Aerial Bombing and Counterinsurgency in the Vietnam War
• Counterterrorism and Preventive Repression: China's Changing Strategy in Xinjiang
• Population transfers in counter-insurgency: a recipe for success?
• Counterinsurgency [wikipedia]
• Scorched earth [wikipedia]

Related

• ‘Devils that suck the blood of the Malayan People’: The Case for Post-Revisionist Analysis of Counter-insurgency Violence
• Counter Insurgency
• Aid as a Tool against Insurgency: Evidence from Contested and Controlled Territory in Afghanistan
• Nasty not nice: British counter-insurgency doctrine and practice, 1945–1967
• Introduction: British ways of counter-insurgency