Why Time Works Against a Counterinsurgency

Through a detailed historical analysis of the British counterinsurgency efforts in Malaya, this paper provides a timely and policy-relevant answer to the question: Why does time work against a counterinsurgency? As the case study indicates, time, quite paradoxically, works against the counterinsurgency in two distinct categorical fashions. First, time functions against the counterinsurgency in a political sense. That is, the frequently external quality of a counterinsurgency lessens the extent of the possible political commitment which they can expect to receive from their home population. As a result, they often need to complete their campaign in a more expedient fashion. Secondly, in a more insidious and common result, time works against the counterinsurgency in a material way. That is, in the absence of control over the local population, public goods -- such as aid and humanitarian assistance -- given directly to the local people come to support the very insurrection that confronts the counterinsurgency. Adapted from the source document.