A Strategy of Tactics: Population-centric COIN and the Army

Abstract

The article discusses population-centric counterinsurgency (COIN) as an American military policy. It is said that the doctrine of population-centric COIN, as expressed in official documents such as U.S. Army field manuals, has significantly redefined the U.S. approach to warfare. An argument is presented that this doctrine has limited applications, is being over-used, and that the true American philosophy of war is pragmatism.