Quote Originally Posted by ryanmleigh View Post
So the introduction of an (outside the state) third party would help to distinguish an insurgency from a civil war. Otherwise, any number of parties inside a state fighting for control over the people would be a civil war?
Yes, the tricky part is national boundaries were often drawn by imperial/colonial powers,in which case the indigenous populations may not recognize these boundaries in any real sense. So you could have a civil war/insurgency at the same time.

Example the Taliban are Pashtun....half live in Afghanistan and half live in Pakistan and IMO they don't really care about any border drawn by some foreign power,it is Pashtunastan to them. That as why I think it is much better to understand them in terms of "Bands of Guerrillas in the mist" as opposed to Insurgency/Civil War. Just my 2 cents.