Foreign Intervention, Warfare and Civil Wars: External Assistance and Belligerents' Choice of Strategy by Adam Lockyer

Author:Adam Lockyer [Lockyer, Adam]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: International Relations, Africa, Political Science, Political Freedom, History, Security (National & International), General
ISBN: 9781138084575
Google: Q6QzDwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 37508524
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2017-09-01T09:17:35+00:00

6  Foreign intervention and warfare conversion in the Angolan Civil War

In the first period of the Angolan Civil War, the warfare moved quickly and freely from militia, to conventional and finally to guerrilla warfare. In contrast, during much of the second period of the Angolan Civil War (from 1977 through to 1992), UNITA was frustrated in its efforts to convert from a guerrilla to conventional strategy. This was despite UNITA’s battlefield success, rapid growth and substantial amounts of foreign assistance. What explains the stark difference in the dynamics of the warfare between the first and second periods of the Angolan Civil War? This chapter submits that the poverty trap appeared in the second period of the Angolan Civil War to hamper UNITA’s progression from guerrilla to conventional warfare. The poverty trap in warfare conversion only affects belligerents attempting to make the transition from a guerrilla to a conventional strategy. As such, the poverty trap was not present during the first period of the Angolan Civil War, but did manifest itself in the second period.

Whereas Chapter 5 concentrated on examining the influence foreign intervention had on warfare in the first period of the Angolan Civil War, this chapter deals with uncovering the effect of foreign intervention on warfare when a poverty trap is present. Empirically, this is achieved by examining the second period of the Angolan Civil War. The second period experienced two distinct patterns in foreign intervention. Phase I (Second Period: Phase I) spanned from 1977 through to 1983. During this phase, substantial volumes of foreign resources continued to be provided to the MPLA, while UNITA received only small amounts of economic and indirect military assistance from South Africa. Nevertheless, UNITA experienced a period of rapid growth until the early 1980s, when it reached the limits of its sustainable growth while applying a guerrilla strategy. Beginning in 1984, Phase II (Second Period: Phase II) featured a significant change in the pattern of foreign intervention. The United States reengaged in the civil war, supplying UNITA with, among other things, Stinger and TOW missiles. South Africa tripled its indirect military assistance and began to intervene with its own military forces more regularly and in greater strength. Later, the Cuban and South African agreement to begin withdrawing their troops from Angola in the late-1980s moved to close the bracket on the second period of the Angolan Civil War. This chapter is divided into two sections, each dedicated to a different phase of the second period.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.