As some of you may know, I have long viewed insurgency as a strategy, not a particular conflict or type of movement. I think this is important because it avoids debates I am never able to understand like "Was the Iraq conflict an insurgency or a civil war?" and "Is Hamas an insurgency?"

Anyhow, I'm trying to fine-tune and refine the definition from this perspective for a book chapter I'm working on. Here's what I've got. I realize it's a really long and complicated definition, but it's the best I can do right now. Thoughts?

Insurgency is a strategy used by a weak organization against a power structure and the organizations which dominate it. The weak organization may seek specific political objectives or a total transformation of the power structure. The strategy uses or threatens the use of violence. The weak organization seeks to postpone resolution of the conflict while it adjusts the power balance in its favor. An organization using insurgency assumes that postponing resolution will lead to a shift in the power balance in its favor. This normally means that the weak organization assumes it has superior will and coherence. A strategy of insurgency involves diminishing the importance of realms of conflict or battlespaces where the weak organization is inferior (e.g. the conventional military one) and emphasizing ones where its inferiority is less (e.g. the psychological). It involves building alliances or partnerships to augment the strength of the weak organization, directly augmenting the strength of the weak organization, and diminishing the strength of the state or other dominant organization. A strategy of insurgency is most often used by a non-state organization against a state but may also be used by a non-state organization against a transnational power structure (e.g. al Qaeda), or by a nation (e.g. Iran).