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Full-Text Articles in Defense and Security Studies
Two Awakenings, One Process: Implications From The Sunni Realignment In Iraq, 2006-2007, Diane Maye Zorri
Two Awakenings, One Process: Implications From The Sunni Realignment In Iraq, 2006-2007, Diane Maye Zorri
Publications
There are several competing beliefs regarding how political factions at the sub-state level choose to align and realign during a state of armed conflict. This research draws upon current literature to provide a framework for comparing the Anbar and Baghdad Awakenings of 2006–2007. This research concludes that alignment and alliance building is a process based on structural constraints only at the point of institutional maturity, therefore the critical point in the realignment process for the U.S. military is at a point between an individual’s realignment and the wider community’s perception of their success.
Understanding The Sunni Awakening With Complexity Theory, Diane Maye Zorri
Understanding The Sunni Awakening With Complexity Theory, Diane Maye Zorri
Publications
Concurrent to the surge of U.S. forces in Iraq between 2006 and 2008, Sunni tribesmen in the U.S. Marine‐controlled western Anbar province of Iraq experienced an “awakening” movement, which led them to side with U.S. and coalition forces. The Sunni Awakening demonstrates that individuals will often realign because of betrayal and opportunities for advancement. It also demonstrates that individual motives can have macrolevel social consequences. Complexity theory suggests that political factions will realign based on individual considerations that then develop into macrolevel movements. Complexity theory also combines both agency (in terms of microbehaviors) and structure (in terms of initial conditions). …