Resumo

ZELIK, Raúl. Asymmetric War. A Critical Reading of the Transformation of Western Military Doctrines. Estud. Polit. [online]. 2011, n.39, pp.168-195. ISSN 0121-5167.

In spite of contradicting the concept of "low intensity conflicts", the military occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan are strongly influenced by older concepts of "small wars" and "low footprint" interventions. The author outlines the development of the notion of "asymmetric war" and argues that asymmetric warfare has been an element of Western military strategies throughout the 20th century-long before the end of the block confrontation and the emergence of so called "new wars." The author identifies three tendencies of state warfare in the context of asymmetric conflicts: 1) a reorientation that leads from military issues to the problem of social control of the population, 2) an irregularization of state violence implying the breaking of laws and international conventions, and 3) the outsourcing of warfare to allied irregular forces such as private military companies, militias, paramilitary groups, warlords and even organized crime.

Palavras-chave : Asymmetric Warfare; Counterinsurgency; Security Strategies; New Wars.

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