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The troubled triangle: US–Pakistan relations under the Taliban’s shadow Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2024-04-15 Muhammad Asad Latif
Published in Small Wars & Insurgencies (Ahead of Print, 2024)
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Uncovering the sources of revolutionary violence: the case of Colombia’s National Front (1958-1964) Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2024-04-12 Oliver Dodd
Scholars often explain political violence by highlighting factors such as state weakness. This article shifts the analysis to a focus on state character. More specifically, the article analyses how...
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Azerbaijan’s power plays: analyzing Baku’s policy towards Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh after 2020 Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2024-04-11 Mushegh Ghahriyan, Veronika Torosyan, Anush Harutyunyan
The article examines Azerbaijan’s policy towards Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh after the 44-day war of 2020. This research answers the questions: What is Azerbaijan’s strategy and policy following t...
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‘Afghanistan’—the transnational connection between Haqqani Network and the Arab World Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2024-04-11 Angana Kotokey
This article explores the dynamics in the Haqqani Network’s (HN) connection with the Arab world which influenced the latter’s relationship with Afghanistan. The financial as well as ideological net...
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Review essay: proxy warfare and mercenaries Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2024-04-08 Lawrence E. Cline
Published in Small Wars & Insurgencies (Ahead of Print, 2024)
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Armed opposition to the Stroessner regime in Paraguay: a review article Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2024-04-01 Andrew Nickson
This review article addresses the little-known armed opposition to the Stroessner regime in Paraguay (1954–89) that remained virtually unreported during the dictatorship. It is based largely on fir...
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The application of ‘Small Wars’ theory and experience by the British Army in Macedonia during the First World War Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2024-03-29 Jake Gasson
Historians of the British Army during the First World War have emphasised the shift from the small pre-war professional army engaged in imperial policing to the mass citizen army capable of conduct...
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Making the world safe for empire? Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2024-03-24 Paul B Rich
Published in Small Wars & Insurgencies (Vol. 35, No. 4, 2024)
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State survival vs leaders’ survival: how ethnic conflicts affect a state’s international alignment behavior Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2024-03-19 Azar Babayev, Kavus Abushov
This article examines the underlying factors contributing to a more strategic and rational alignment behaviour exhibited by certain post-Soviet states compared to others in the region and beyond, d...
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The impact of precision strike technology on the warfare of non-state armed groups: case studies on Daesh and the Houthis Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2024-03-08 Max Mutschler, Marius Bales, Esther Meininghaus
Precision strikes from a distance are a common practice of state warfare. However, the global proliferation of precision strike technologies, like missiles and armed drones, makes such weapons prog...
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Local circumstances matter: the story of two peasant resistances in northwestern Ethiopia from 1974 to 1991 Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2024-03-09 Dejenie Fikremaryam
This paper aims to examine the strategies employed by the peasantry to defend their established rights and privileges against a dominant state. A careful analysis of archival and oral sources revea...
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Prima Donnas in Kevlar zones. Challenges to the Unconventional Warfare efforts of the U.S. Special Forces during Operation Enduring Freedom Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2024-03-09 Anna M. Gielas
When Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) commenced in October 2001, the U.S. Special Forces (SF) were the first U.S. military unit on the ground in Afghanistan, utilising their Unconventional Warfare ...
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Mughal amphibious counterinsurgency in the Bay of Bengal’s hinterland: 1572-1612 Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2024-03-05 Kaushik Roy
During the later sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, the Mughal attempt at empire building in eastern India was challenged by the Pathan chieftains and the Hindu zamindars. Besides the Mugha...
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Urban warfare in the middle East: the battle of Mosul and the operations in Syria Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2024-03-04 Andrea Beccaro
A change in modern warfare concerns the battlefield and the increasing urbanisation of conflicts. The article analyses the reason and consequences of conflict urbanisation comparing recent experien...
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Hunting the watchmen the Ulster Defence Regiment and IRA strategy Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2024-03-01 Daniel Chesse
The Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) were unique within the context of the Troubles-79% of their nearly 200 UDR casualties came while off-duty. This article frames these attacks, assesses their impact...
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Al-Qaeda as a spatial orientated movement: interactions between transnational and local jihadism Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2024-02-15 James Paterson
This article argues that al-Qaeda exists as a spatially orientated movement, a movement that considers local dynamics, both national and sub-national drivers, as part of its ideological formation. ...
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From rebel leaders to post-war intermediaries: evidence from Southern Syria Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2024-02-13 Abdullah Al-Jabassini
This article investigates the distinct pathways and roles played by former rebel leaders in conditions of conflict transformation. Focusing on southern Syria, it offers a comparative analysis of th...
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From alliance to ‘soft conquest’: the anatomy of the Turkish-Azerbaijani military alliance before and after the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2024-02-12 Levon Hovsepyan, Artyom A. Tonoyan
Military cooperation has been one of the milestones in Turkish-Azerbaijani relations since the early 1990s. A qualitatively new phase began in 2010 after the signing of the strategic agreement whic...
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Autonomous cooperation: types of alliances between communities and combatants in civil wars Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2024-02-12 Daniel Gómez-Uribe
Civilian cooperation with armed actors has been widely studied by conflict scholars. However, one aspect remains conceptually overlooked: instances where civilian communities cooperate while retain...
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Westphalia from below: humanitarian intervention and the myth of 1648 Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2024-02-07 Paul B Rich
Published in Small Wars & Insurgencies (Vol. 35, No. 3, 2024)
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‘Only a tree stands still to be cut down’: discoursing legitimation in narratives of the Nigeria-Biafra war and the IPOB movement (1967 to present) Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2024-02-05 Adeiza Isiaka
At sixty years, the Biafran movement has evolved, with actors and narratives shaped by new demographics, discourse modalities, and ideologies. While its most compelling leaders – Ojukwu and Kanu — ...
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Was Gerry Adams a transformational leader? Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2024-02-02 Michael Flavin
Gerry Adams was the foremost Irish Republican leader in The Troubles (1968–1998). This paper analyses the extent to which he was a transformational leader, shifting Republicanism from armed struggl...
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The conceptual and doctrinal evolution on irregular warfare in Türkiye: 1919-1952 Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2024-01-30 Arman Sert, Cenker Korhan Demir
This study investigates the evolution of concepts and doctrine on irregular warfare in Türkiye from 1919 to 1952, focusing on two primary research inquiries. It explores the conceptual approach tow...
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The bandits’ world: recruitment strategies, command structure and motivations for mass casualty attacks in northwest Nigeria Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2024-01-30 Oluwole Ojewale
This study analyses the dynamics of banditry in northwest Nigeria through qualitative and quantitative research methodology. To populate their cells, bandits apply economic incentives and coercion....
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The Catalan separatist insurrection armament of 1926 in the shadow of the Irish armed decade Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2024-01-30 Joan Esculies
After general Miguel Primo de Rivera’s coup d’état in Spain in 1923, Francesc Macià went into French exile. The leader of the Catalan separatist movement and his political-military organization, Es...
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Towards “modern” counterinsurgency in Sub-Saharan Africa: lessons learnt from Nigeria and Mozambique Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2024-01-30 Jakub Zbytovsky, Jan Prouza
This article investigates counterinsurgencies in Sub-Saharan Africa, especially those opposing insurgencies with an ethnic and/or sectarian character. Using a most-similar method of case selection,...
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The Iranian revolutionary guard corps: defining Iran’s military doctrine Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2024-01-30 Lawrence E. Cline
Published in Small Wars & Insurgencies (Vol. 35, No. 2, 2024)
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Atrocity labelling: from crimes against humanity to genocide studies Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2024-01-30 Paul B. Rich
Published in Small Wars & Insurgencies (Vol. 35, No. 2, 2024)
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Mass atrocities and the police: A new history of ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and Herzegovina Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2024-01-19 Lawrence E. Cline
Published in Small Wars & Insurgencies (Vol. 35, No. 3, 2024)
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Jihadist sniper culture: propagandising the ‘caliphate’ through the crosshair Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2024-01-13 Pieter Nanninga
Snipers have gained increasing prominence in modern warfare and insurgencies, both in actual combat and in military propaganda. Research on snipers, however, has remained largely limited to their s...
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The Greek revolution: 1821 and the making of modern Europe Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2023-12-27 Marina Eleftheriadou
Published in Small Wars & Insurgencies (Vol. 35, No. 2, 2024)
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Directorate S: the CIA and America’s secrete wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2023-12-17 S. Yaqub Ibrahimi
Published in Small Wars & Insurgencies (Ahead of Print, 2023)
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Atrocity Labelling: From Crimes Against Humanity to Genocide Studies by Markus P Beham Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2023-12-19 Paul B. Rich
Published in Small Wars & Insurgencies (Ahead of Print, 2023)
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Uncivil war: the British army and the troubles, 1966-1975 Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2023-12-18 Geraint Hughes
Published in Small Wars & Insurgencies (Ahead of Print, 2023)
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Book review - proxy war in Yemen Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2023-12-11 Melvyn Fookes
Published in Small Wars & Insurgencies (Ahead of Print, 2023)
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‘A guide for measuring resiliency and resistance’ Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2023-12-14 Robert S. Burrell, John Collison
This essay addresses the critical need to apply a more advanced human-centric model in assessing current levels of governmental and societal resilience and resistance to subversion and coercion, as...
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The counterinsurgent imagination: a new intellectual history Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2023-12-13 Mujeeb Kanth
Published in Small Wars & Insurgencies (Vol. 35, No. 2, 2024)
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High-modernist intervention and the prolonged frontier conflict in Metekel, North-West Ethiopia: the case of the grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2023-12-10 Dagnachew Ayenew Yeshiwas, Gutema Imana Keno, Tsega Endale Etefa, Tompson Makahamadze
This study explores the interface of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), a high-modernist hydraulic scheme, with the protracted frontier conflict in Metekel Zone of Benishangul Gumuz Region...
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Introduction Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2023-12-10 Paul B Rich
Published in Small Wars & Insurgencies (Vol. 34, No. 8, 2023)
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Multinational Joint Task Force’s counterinsurgency in the Lake Chad Basin and the consequences of Chadian exit for the Northeast, Nigeria Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2023-12-10 Nsemba Edward Lenshie, Patience Kondu Jacob, Confidence Nwachinemere Ogbonna, Buhari Shehu Miapyen, Paul Onuh, Aminu Idris, Christian Ezeibe
The Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF), comprising soldiers from the Lake Chad Basin countries (Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Nigeria, and Benin), has been countering insurgency in the region since 20...
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Botha, Smuts and the great war Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2023-12-06 Paul B Rich
Published in Small Wars & Insurgencies (Ahead of Print, 2023)
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Conflict in early medieval Ireland, Adomnán of Iona and the law of the Innocents (697 AD): an early law of war Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2023-12-05 James W. Houlihan
This article explores the making of the Irish Law of the Innocents that sought to protect women, children, clerics and other non-arms-bearing people in periods of conflict, people usually referred ...
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The trajectory of Islamic State Khorasan Province and Afghan Taliban rivalry Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2023-12-01 Ihsanullah Omarkhail, Liu Guozhu
This article claims that the Taliban’s Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has controlled Islamic State. It examines the rivalry between the two insurgent groups, which have various ideological and regi...
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Rebel Governance: an analysis of the Taliban’s Governance from 2001-2021 Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2023-11-27 Weeda Mehran, Sarah Habib, Zsuzsana Riedel
This paper assesses the Taliban’s role in delivering four key services – taxation, security, justice, and education – from 2001 to 2021. Our analysis highlights that the provision of these services...
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Zone of rebellion: Kurdish insurgent and the Turkish state Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2023-11-20 Berkan Özgür
Published in Small Wars & Insurgencies (Ahead of Print, 2023)
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Bollywood, Maratha imperialism and Hindu nationalism Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2023-11-15 Kaushik Roy
Critical scholars assert that the Bharatiya Janata Party is using commercial Hindi films, controlled by the censor board, to portray a ‘Hindu’ version of Indian nationality. Left-liberal intellectu...
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When Militias capture the state: evidence from Lebanon, Iraq, and Sudan Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2023-11-09 Federico Manfredi Firmian
Studies on militias tend to focus on state policies, such as government collusion with militias during counterinsurgencies or post-conflict demobilization programs. This article examines militia st...
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Rwanda’s War in Mozambique: Road-Testing a Kigali Principles approach to counterinsurgency? Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2023-10-06 Ralph Shield
Rwandan military behavior in Mozambique operationalizes Kigali’s rhetorical commitment to aggressively defend endangered civilians. The counterinsurgency doctrine applied in Cabo Delgado balances i...
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Negotiating ‘Hearts and Minds’: conflict, infrastructure, and community support in Colombia Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2023-09-19 Clara Voyvodic
Research has shown that the counterinsurgent proposition of ‘winning Hearts and Minds’ is more complex than building a road. This paper examines how project workers in three infrastructure projects...
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Unholy alignment and boomerang civil conflicts: Examining how conflicts beget conflicts through external states support for rebels Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2023-09-15 Thomas Ameyaw-Brobbey
ABSTRACT This paper focuses on external state support for rebel movements by developing an analytical tool to explain how external support for rebels leads to civil conflict onset and intensification in the target state and how conflict reverses to the sponsoring state, engendering conflict diffusion and continuation. I present a two-fold argument that a cooperative relationship between external states
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Intercommunal violence, insurgency, and agropastoral conflict in the Lake Chad Basin region Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2023-09-12 Edward Newman, Pegah Hashemvand Khiabani, Remi Chandran
ABSTRACT The Lake Chad Basin region has experienced a steep increase in violence and instability since 2010, associated with ethnic identity conflict, ecological degradation, and insurgency. This article explores the association between the activities of insurgency groups – focussing on the perpetration of violence against civilians and state actors – and agropastoral conflict, against a background
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Taliban’s PSYOP – strategic enabler for the 2021 offensive Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2023-08-30 Robin Burda
ABSTRACT The paper focuses primarily on the Taliban’s psychological operations (PSYOP) during their offensive in 2021. The unexpected rapidity of the Taliban’s advance led to a question about the role of the Taliban’s PSYOP during the offensive, which is the primary research problem. The paper is not only an intrinsic case study, but also an instrumental part of a broader research of PSYOP of non-state
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Insurgent movements and paths to negotiation: a case study of the National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) in India’s northeast Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2023-08-25 Jimmy Sebastian Daimary, Pahi Saikia
What drives insurgent groups to negotiation? The paper examines the conditions that facilitate insurgents to negotiate with governments. It examines the case of National Democratic Front of Borolan...
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Parmanu: the story of Pokhran (2018)- the saffronization of India’s quest for a nuclear weapon Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2023-08-07 C. Christine Fair
Parmanu (2018) is a commercial action-cum-spy flick that recounts a highly stylized history of India’s efforts to become a Pokhrannuclear weapons state through the narrative device of the Mahabhara...
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Introduction Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2023-07-12 Paul B Rich
Published in Small Wars & Insurgencies (Vol. 34, No. 5, 2023)
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The insurgent’s dilemma: A struggle to prevail Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2023-07-09 Nelson Kasfir
Published in Small Wars & Insurgencies (Vol. 34, No. 5, 2023)
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The challenges of military adaptation to the cyber domain: a case study of the Netherlands Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2023-07-13 Max Smeets
ABSTRACT Whilst NATO speaks increasingly publicly about the military use of cyber operations, adaptation to the cyber domain has reportedly been challenging for most militaries. Little research has sought to understand the nature of these challenges. This study seeks to address this gap through a case study of the Netherlands. By utilizing a range of primary and secondary sources, this article reveals
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Counterinsurgency as order-making: refining the concepts of insurgency and counterinsurgency in light of the Somali civil war Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2023-07-11 Michael Weddegjerde Skjelderup, Mukhtar Ainashe
ABSTRACT In this paper, we argue that the current insurgency and counterinsurgency discourse is dominated by concepts that are too narrow and too isolated from the wider civil war literature within which insurgency and counterinsurgency occur. Rather than accounting for the complex political processes and wide range of forces and actors that shape conflict dynamics, the dominant insurgency and counterinsurgency
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Insurgencies & organized crime: the essential elements of information Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2023-07-04 Lawrence E. Cline
ABSTRACT Operational analysis of irregular warfare typically focuses on politically-based actions (typically violent) against governments. Intelligence services very often base their planning, collection efforts, and analysis on opposing insurgent or terrorist groups, proxy forces, and governments that might be supporting them. A key threat to stability in these complex security environments – organized
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Narco drones: tracing the evolution of cartel aerial tactics in Mexico’s low-intensity conflicts Small Wars & Insurgencies Pub Date : 2023-06-18 Ghaleb Krame, Vlado Vivoda, Amanda Davies
ABSTRACT This study examines the evolution of drone tactics employed by drug cartels in Mexico from 2017 to 2022. The research traces the increasing sophistication of drone technology, payload capacities, and adaptability of cartels in employing airborne drones in low-intensity conflicts It also highlights the increasing reliance on drones for various purposes. The analysis reveals insights into how