Quote Originally Posted by selil View Post
What about insurgents that no longer care about the state? As in the state is not even an issue. I guess the point I'm working around is when basic services like medical, water, food, and law enforcement have broken down what are insurgents fighting for? Is it freedom of religion or desire for lack of freedom of religion as an example? People kill people all the time "just because". We project power and legitimacy onto foreign governments with expectations of the populace realizing or legitimizing the projection.

If the power of a government is actually a shadow rather than an ability to act and the insurgency isn't interested in toppling the nascent government but in destabilizing the society what are we fighting? I'm trying to grapple with the ideas of insurgency and terrorism in a stateless society.

We talk about terrorists and insurgents as if they are different or motivated differently. The answer may be that insurgency and terrorism are tactics or strategies and the actors employ the destabilization method of choice at that time. The GWOT has been co-opted as a political euphemism and as such perhaps misdirected the discussion from the reality of the conflict.

I'll be honest I'm still moping and thinking on the topic. Since it isn't my area of expertise I figure I'll get whacked, but then again that's half the fun.
In my own scribblings, I don't even bother to categorize movements as "terrorists" or "insurgents." I view insurgency as a strategy and terrorism as a tactic or technique.