Talk:Insurgency

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 Definition A wide range of political and military actions intended to change a government, through means considered illegal by that government. [d] [e]
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Interesting article

Good info.--Thomas Wright Sulcer 03:27, 26 February 2010 (UTC)

IRA (various incarnations)

I would dispute the table with regard to the placement of the various IRA groups listed, and Irish nationalists pre-1922.

To start with, most nationalists - particularly prior to the executions of those involved with the Easter Rising (1916) - were not separatists, but instead merely desired Home Rule.

Secondly, to suggest that either nationalists prior to 1922 or the various IRAs were or are anticolonialist, is to suggest that there is some colony they are trying to be rid of. Northern Ireland isn't a colony, but each of the IRAs are certainly separatist. Also, the IRA pre-1969/70 was Marxist and the Official IRA post-1969/70 continued to be Marxist. The Provisional IRA were also 'religious' or sectarian (while, arguably, the Officials were non-sectarian - Political Murder in Northern Ireland, Dillon & Lehane). "Resistence to occupation" is of course subjective. --Mal McKee 08:34, 11 July 2010 (UTC)

The table is intended to be illustrative, rather than a tutorial on any particular movement. This was the constant problem of infoboxes at WP when they got into any controversial subject. As I try to tell some of my friends, who are enthtralled over cable television news, "the Constitution does not fit on a bumper sticker."
I would be delighted to see authoritative articles on Irish politics and insurgency, but I have only a general knowledge of the subject. Rather than try to oversimplify, I'd rather simply remove it from the table in the article. Your comments above about it not being simple might very well serve as good text in the article proper, but I don't want to get into nuanced arguments over the table.
Resistance to occupation is less subjective here than it may look. Remember, the issue is the motivation of the group in its own eyes. One of the key ideas in professional insurgency analysis is not to confuse moral judgment with useful categorizations -- the analyst of insurgency sees terrorism as a tactic rather than an ideology. Howard C. Berkowitz 14:31, 11 July 2010 (UTC)
Howard, that all seems fair enough. I can't remember if the article itself suggests that the the notions outlined by the table are subjective and possibly from each organisation's "own eyes", but it probably should do.
Incidentally, my edit to the article was only suggestion - to illustrate how I imagined it looking with regard to some more accuracy. I wouldn't protest or be remotely offended if the article was reverted, or even changed further. It's probably a fair way away from being approved, in any case. --Mal McKee 09:59, 14 July 2010 (UTC)