A group that is attempting to overthrow the government of a country. Insurgency groups are normally led by activists who use a wide range of tactics to bring down the established government and create an alternative. While armed violence is an obvious feature of insurgency, political intrigue, exacerbation of existing social conflicts between racial, religious, and other groups, economic disruption and dislocation, rumor mongering and other forms of propaganda, and other means that might destroy the power base of the government are all commonly employed by insurgents.
Unlike pure terrorist organizations, insurgents typically field fighting forces orders of magnitude larger than those of their terrorist counterparts and are not focused solely on the use of terror attacks as a tool. Insurgency and terrorism are not mutually exclusive, but only when an insurgent’s violence extends beyond the accepted, legal bounds of political dissent does it become insurgency.
Wood notes that insurgents are often willing to “risk literally everything—status, life and family—for a popular objective. This extreme personal loss bolsters resolve.”
Wood argues that insurgents typically have strong, preexisting social networks with a high level of loyalty and are able to recruit members quickly and efficiently. Insurgents also tend to be organized as networks and have no centralized control, making them more difficult for the government to target. This is especially true in next-gen insurgencies where virtual technology will be a key element for the movement. Rather than gathering in large, heavily guarded bases, next-gen insurgencies will be highly distributed and highly virtual, with funding for equipment and operations coming through commercial technology like deepfake and dark web contributions.