From People’s War to People’s Rule: Insurgency, Intervention, and the Lessons of VietnamTimothy Lomperis persuasively argues the ironic point that the lessons of American involvement in Vietnam are not to be found in any analysis of the war by itself. Rather, he proposes a comparison of the Vietnam experience with seven other cases of Western intervention in communist insurgencies during the Cold War era: China, Indochina, Greece, the Philippines, Malaya, Cambodia, and Laos. Lomperis maintains that popular insurgencies are manifestations of crises in political legitimacy, which occur as a result of the societal stresses caused by modernization. Therefore, he argues, any intervention in a 'people's war' will succeed or fail depending on how it affects this crisis. The unifying theme in the cases Lomperis discusses is the power of land reform and electoral democracy to cement political legitimacy and therefore deflect revolutionary movements. Applying this theory to the ongoing Sendero Luminoso insurgency in Peru, Lomperis makes a qualified prediction of that conflict's outcome. He concludes that a global trend toward democratization has produced a new era of 'people's rule.' |
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From People's War to People's Rule: Insurgency, Intervention, and the ... Timothy J. Lomperis No preview available - 1996 |
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American army belief belief-level bombing British Cambodia Cambodia and Laos campaign Central China Chinese cities commitment Communist Party communists counterinsurgency countryside critical mass crossover points defeat democratic Despite Dienbienphu economic elections ethnic Filipino forces foreign French Greece Greek Greek Civil War groups guerrilla Guomindang Hanoi History Huks ideology Indians Indochina insurgency Japanese land reform Laotian leaders leadership legitimacy crisis legitimation lessons liberation Magsaysay Malay Malaya Mao's March Marxist people's Megali Idea military million modern MRLA national legitimacy nationalist Nguyen North Vietnamese numbers opportunity level opportunity-level organization Pathet Lao peasants people's war people's war strategy percent Peru Philippines political legitimacy revolution revolutionary rule rural Saigon Senderistas Sendero Luminoso side Sihanouk social societal access society South Vietnam Souvanna Phouma Soviet strategic breakout struggle Tet offensive Thieu Third World thousand tion traditional United University Press urban victory Viet Cong Viet Minh Vietnam War York