Joint Special Operations University
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JOINT SPECIAL OPERATIONS UNIVERSITY
Over time a metaphorical critical mass constructed of global irregular warfare (IW)
actors, state and non-state, has developed. The core is now active and exists within
an enabling contemporary environmental structure. State warfare hegemony has
decreased conventional competition and increased asymmetrical strategies. The
result of this has been the emergence of IW as a prominent strategy and a self-
propagating chain reaction of IW activity. This activity is releasing increasingly dan-
gerous levels of destabilizing eect. This monograph reviews IW theory and history,
and describes the contemporary operational paradigm. It analyzes the eect of
cumulative IW activity and discusses prescriptive approaches to the problem. It
concludes that, if stability is an objective, then counter-IW must be holistically
undertaken with strategies to reduce conventional warfare competition. IW must
not be casually used as a convenient outlet for competition below the threshold
of war, the potential damage of unlimited IW will be signicant and lasting.
ISBN 978-1-941715-41-3
Tickling the Dragon’s Tail:
The Destabilizing Eects of an Irregular
Warfare Critical Mass
Ned B. Marsh
JSOU Report 19-3
JSOU Report 19-3 Tickling the Dragon’s Tail: The Destabilizing Effects of an IW Critical Mass Marsh
e Lithuanian National Defence Volunteer Forces and U.S. Special Operations Forces
participate in exercise Saber Junction at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center
in Hohenfels, Germany, on September . e two forces train to conduct irregular
warfare in enemy occupied territory. U.S. ARMY PHOTO BY SGT. KAREN SAMPSON
