http://competitiveintelligence.ning.com ... insurgency
Early warning on insurgency- What the Indian government needs to understand to mitigate risks which create corporate risks for foreign investment in India.
Some believe that insurgency is a military problem while others believe that insurgency is the result of outside interference while some others believe that
insurgency is caused by poverty.
For this we need to understand the social, political and economic conditions that are exploited by vested interests. The breeding ground for insurgency could be because
of either or some or all the factors. It could be because of breakdown
of traditional social organizations and customs because of cross
cultural influences or because of rapid improvement in social, economic
and political conditions or urbanization or industrialization or lets
say in the case of India, vacuum created by the departure of a colonial
power or it could be because of Indian government corruption,
ineptitude or tyranny or due to political instability in the center as
well as state governments, further widespread unemployment and
underemployment and poverty or deep social and economic divisions based
on caste and class divide.
The root cause of insurgency which the government needs to understand is the intolerable inconsistency between that which people think that they have a right to accept and which they
estimate they realistically are capable of attaining.
The gap which is created between value expectations and value capabilities is called relative deprivation. In India this is especially heightened by
the great class and caste and religious divide.
Out of the frustration in the local population between that which people think that they have a right to accept and which they estimate they
realistically are capable of attaining results in a gap called
perceived relative deprivation.
Because of Indian government corruption and ineptitude and due to political instability in the center as well as state governments in not being able to address
widespread unemployment and underemployment and poverty results in deep
social and economic divisions based on caste and class divide.
Out of this arise issues. What are issues? Issues are points in argument. These are the questions that have not been addressed by the Indian
government. These become the focal points of discontent and even
insurgency.
What the government fails to understand is that these issues belong to certain groups and when these issues are not properly addressed because of government ineptitude or corruption that a certain
sect of local population takes it upon themselves as to how these
issues should be readdressed. Members of local population who realize
that the government is incapable of addressing these issues take it
upon themselves to affect the behavior of the local population by
offering them utopia.
These insurgent leaders who advocate these issues become the rallying point for local population as the local population now starts to believe that which people think that they have
a right to accept and which they estimate they realistically are
capable of attaining which results in a gap called perceived relative
deprivation.
These issues advocated by groups become demands. Now if demands are properly addressed they result simply in the normal functioning of the political system. As it happens in India, issues
which belong to groups which are inadequately addressed become demands
which results in heightened perceived relative deprivation because of
the frustration in the local population between that which people think
that they have a right to accept and which they estimate they
realistically are capable of attaining thereby resulting in a gap
called perceived relative deprivation.
The resulting frustration in the local population arises because there is a dilemma between that which people think that they have a right to accept and which they
estimate they realistically are capable of attaining creates a gap
called perceived relative deprivation. This creates a suitable climate
and potential for political violence.
As is the case of Indian political history there have been precedents that whenever local population resorts to political violence that it is only then that the
government pays attention.
These issues belonging to groups advocated by opinion makers become demands and when these demands are not adequately addressed that have the potential for political violence
develop legitimacy not in legal terms but on psychological terms result
in popular support because of the frustration in the local population
between that which people think that they have a right to accept and
which they estimate they realistically are capable of attaining.
This results in directed focused political violence. This is where insurgent leadership takes over. The insurgents derive mileage because of the
frustration in the local population between that which people think
that they have a right to accept and which they estimate they
realistically are capable of attaining which creates a gap called
perceived relative deprivation. Insurgent leadership is quick to make
the local population understand that there are issues which have not
been addressed by the government. These issues belong to certain groups
and thereby insurgents gather popular support by advocating their
eligibility to address these grievances.
Then psychological operations are used by insurgent leaders who use human intelligence tools such as money, ideology, compromise and ego, and especially
ideology to create loyal cadres with the ultimate objective to seize
political control.
What the Indian government fails to understand is that the government has yet not been able to understand the coercive potential of insurgent leaders which is greater than theirs.
The insurgent leaders advocate their causes and win over local population and attempt to break the links that bind the people to the government.
This is because of the coercive potential of insurgents which is
greater than that of Indian government and to achieve this the
insurgent leaders destroy or try to destroy the legitimacy of the local
government and thereby create legitimacy for their own leadership.
The popular support to the insurgency happens because of Indian government corruption, ineptitude or tyranny or due to political instability in
the center as well as state governments, further widespread
unemployment and underemployment and poverty or deep social and
economic divisions based on caste and class divide.