Joint Special Operations University
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JOINT SPECIAL OPERATIONS UNIVERSITY
Million man protest marches in Hong Kong, riots and rebellion in
Caracas, continued rumors of widespread discontent in Tehran, sab-
otage in the face of unspeakable brutality in North Korea, sectarian
civil war in Syria, and the unrelenting assault on liberal democracy
by the dictatorial regime in Moscow—the headlines of today have
their seeds in the inherent fear of tyrants. It is that fear on which
America must capitalize and be prepared to use to our advantage.
These disturbances reveal the critical role that America’s special war-
fare units play in the contemporary era of nation state competition
and conict, for it’s their own people that our enemies fear most.
Will Irwin’s monograph is a timely and important contribution to
what will eventually become canon for the American Way of Irregu-
lar War and the basis for the professional military education of its
uniformed and civilian irregular warfare practitioners.
ISBN 978-1-941715-42-0
JSOU Report 19-4 How Civil Resistance Works (and Why it Matters to SOF) Irwin
e Flag of “Otpor,” symbolizing resistance, is held up at a protest against Presi-
dent Aleksandar Vucic in Belgrade. PHOTO CREDIT: VISUAL INTERMEZZO
/ SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
How Civil Resistance Works
(And Why It Matters To SOF)
Will Irwin
Foreword by Lieutenant General Charles T. Cleveland
JSOU Report 19-4
