Another Example of 4th Generation Warfare
May 26th, 2006 | by Paul Merda |William S. Lind, Father of the concept of Fourth Generation Warfare, provides another example where a flat, well connected organization can effectively challenge Nation-State power. The recent riots and attacks on police and government in Brazil by the PCC are precisely the challenge Nation-States are going to have to confront in the coming years. The PCC gained much ground by providing services to prisoners that the state did not provide; luxuries such as blankets, soap and toothbrushes effectively recruiting nearly all prisoners into its ranks.
The PCC emerges from the Post account and from its uprising in Sao Paulo as almost a model Fourth Generation organization, operating a network of structures parallel to those of the state that work more effectively than the state’s institutions. As the state retreats into ever-greater corruption and incapacity, the PCC has advanced by filling in the widening gaps. It has now reached the point where it can confront the state directly, while I think it is safe to say that the state cannot defeat much less destroy the PCC.
One Response to “Another Example of 4th Generation Warfare”
By Jet Netwal on May 26, 2006 | Reply
Great link, LiberPaul. One paragraph I found fascinating:
What “wins” at the tactical and physical levels may lose at the operational, strategic, mental and moral levels, where 4GW is decided. Martin van Creveld argues that one reason the British have not lost in Northern Ireland is that the British Army has taken more casualties than it has inflicted. This is something the Second Generation American military has great trouble grasping, because it defines success in terms of comparative attrition rates.
Thanks for posting this.