Book Description

This book describes the Thai way of counterinsurgency (COIN). The Thai have successfully fought and defeated two insurgencies in the past, and they are currently fighting another. The first war, which was country wide, was against communist insurgents from 1965-85. The second was on Thailand's southernmost border against a hodgepodge of separatists and criminal groups that touted everything from increased political participation, to secession, to jihad. The third and current insurgency, also on the southern border, fights for a separate state under the banner of Pattani nationalism, Malay racism, and jihad. This movement makes extensive use of terrorism by regularly targeting civilians. Why is the Thai way of COIN relevant? America and its allies – including Thailand – could use the lessons to improve their COIN doctrine. Since America's retooling of its COIN methods because of its involvement in theaters such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the Philippines, the government has done scores of COIN studies in pursuit of lessons learned. One of the biggest was the U.S. Army and Marine Corps COIN manual. These studies included Vietnam, Ireland, Malaysia, Algeria, the Philippines, China, ancient Persia, Lebanon, Spain, and Haiti. The manual didn't outwardly cite examples from Thailand's successful COINs despite their value. Second, this book explains Thai national security issues and decision making in intricate detail. This is critically important to understand as America – and also the world – re-emphasizes focus on the Asia-Pacific region as of 2012. If we understand Thailand's defense priorities, both internal and external, then we can better engage it. The third reason the Thai way of COIN is relevant is it explains well the “how to” of COIN from the strategic to the operational, and in some cases the tactical. This book will be of much interest to students of counterinsurgency, SE Asian politics, strategic studies and security studies in general.