Organized opposition involving direct action — sabotage, armed conflict, strikes, or civil disruption — taken openly against an occupying or oppressive force.

Conflicts in which opposing forces differ significantly in strength, tactics, or technology, forcing the weaker party to exploit unconventional methods, deception, and terrain to offset the adversary’s advantages.

A strategy of gradually exhausting the enemy through sustained losses in personnel, materiel, and morale rather than seeking decisive battlefield engagement.

A legal status in international law recognizing an organized armed group as a party to a conflict, granting its members combatant protections including prisoner-of-war status under the Geneva Conventions.

Propaganda that is deliberately attributed to a false source — typically the adversary itself — to deceive the target audience, sow internal distrust, and discredit the opposing side.

An organizational model in which a resistance network is divided into small, semi-independent units — typically 3–6 members — to limit exposure from infiltration and reduce cascading failures when one cell is compromised.

Covert missions designed to conceal the identity of those executing them, used in espionage, sabotage, and resistance movements where deniability is operationally essential.

Comprehensive civilian and military efforts designed to simultaneously defeat and contain insurgency and address its root causes. The defining feature is that the military line of effort is subordinate. A campaign that kills insurgents faster than the government generates legitimacy is still losing.

That portion of the population that provides active clandestine support to the guerrilla force or the underground while showing no open sympathy with the movement. Auxiliaries are usually part-time, and their value comes precisely from their ordinary position: the clerk with the ration records, the doctor who treats a wound without reporting it, the railwayman who knows the schedule.

A surprise attack from a concealed position against a moving or temporarily halted target. One of the three core guerrilla tactical actions alongside the raid and reconnaissance.

A systematic evaluation of a geographic area’s physical, human, and operational characteristics to determine how they affect military or resistance operations. Covers terrain, population, infrastructure, threats, and potential support.

Deliberate actions designed to arouse public dissatisfaction and provoke unrest against a governing authority. Follows propaganda messaging with observable, concrete actions that demonstrate the movement’s capability.

The use of force, threats, or pressure to compel an actor to do something it would otherwise not do. In unconventional warfare, coercion is applied through supporting a resistance or insurgency to impose costs on the adversary.

The deliberate, public, nonviolent refusal to obey laws or government demands as a form of political protest. Distinguished from criminal activity by its public nature, moral justification, and willingness to accept legal consequences.

The practice of restricting information within an organization so that individuals or cells know only what they need to perform their specific function. The foundational security principle of underground and clandestine organizations.

The sudden, illegal seizure of government power by a small group — typically military officers or political insiders — through the rapid capture of key institutions, communications, and leadership rather than mass mobilization.

Two distinct categories of secret activity: covert operations conceal the sponsor’s identity (the ‘who’), while clandestine operations conceal the activity itself (the ‘what’). The distinction carries significant legal and policy implications.

The fighting element of a resistance or insurgency, made up of irregular, predominantly indigenous personnel organized along military lines to conduct military and paramilitary operations in enemy-held, hostile or denied territory. In joint doctrine the term of art is the guerrilla force; the ARIS literature uses guerrilla or armed component to cover formations that outgrow guerrilla methods.

The targeted killing of a specific individual — typically a political leader, military commander, intelligence operative, or collaborator — for strategic, political, or psychological effect.

The systematic denial of movement — of goods, people, or information — into or out of a territory, imposed by military force, naval power, economic sanctions, or civilian obstruction.

The organized withdrawal of economic or social cooperation — refusing to buy, sell, work, or interact — as a means of coercion against a government, corporation, or occupying power. One of the most widely deployed nonviolent resistance methods.

A core group of trained, committed individuals who serve as the organizational backbone of a resistance movement — recruiting, training, and leading broader membership while maintaining ideological discipline.

A wave of largely nonviolent, mass-mobilization movements in post-Soviet states and beyond that used coordinated civil resistance — often associated with a symbolic color or flower — to challenge disputed elections and authoritarian governance.

The exercise of authority and direction over assigned forces to accomplish a mission. In irregular warfare, C2 ranges from strict hierarchy to decentralized network structures depending on security requirements.

Activities conducted to identify, deceive, exploit, disrupt, or protect against espionage, sabotage, or intelligence collection directed at one’s own organization. The defensive complement to intelligence operations.

The illicit trade in weapons, ammunition, and military equipment across borders or to unauthorized recipients. A critical enabler of insurgencies and resistance movements that lack state-sponsored supply chains.

A temporary or permanent halt to armed hostilities — agreed bilaterally or imposed unilaterally — that may serve as a step toward negotiation, a tactical pause, or a strategic repositioning measure.

Activities performed by military forces that establish, maintain, or exploit relationships between military forces, government agencies, and civilian populations in friendly, neutral, or hostile areas.

Underground printing and distribution networks that produce newspapers, leaflets, pamphlets, and instructional materials in defiance of censorship or occupation — a foundational propaganda tool of resistance movements.

The imposition of penalties on an entire community or population for the actions of individuals — prohibited under international humanitarian law but frequently employed by occupying powers and authoritarian regimes.

The process of identifying the responsible actor behind a cyber attack or digital operation. A fundamental challenge in cyber conflict because the internet’s architecture enables anonymity and misdirection.

Technologies and techniques used to bypass government-imposed internet censorship and surveillance — enabling access to blocked content, anonymous communication, and secure information exchange in repressive environments.

Operations targeting the human mind as the domain of warfare — seeking to alter how people think, decide, and act by exploiting cognitive biases, emotional triggers, and information processing vulnerabilities.

A message, story, or framework specifically designed to challenge and undermine an adversary’s narrative — delegitimizing their claims, exposing contradictions, and offering an alternative interpretation of events.

Short-duration, high-intensity strikes or raids — typically executed by special operations forces — to seize, destroy, capture, exploit, or recover a designated target.

A cyberattack that floods a network or system with traffic from multiple sources simultaneously, rendering it unavailable — used in hybrid warfare to disable critical infrastructure, financial systems, or government communications.

The covert collection of intelligence through human sources, infiltration, or surveillance, conducted in denied or hostile territory without the knowledge or consent of the target.

Clandestine infrastructure — safe houses, guides, forged documents, and transport routes — established to move personnel out of denied territory, including downed pilots, escaped prisoners, and compromised operatives.

Participation by civilian and military agencies of a government in programs taken by another government to protect its society from subversion, lawlessness, insurgency, terrorism, and other threats to its security.

Highly mobile guerrilla units specializing in hit-and-run attacks, ambushes, and rapid maneuver that exploit speed and terrain knowledge to strike and disperse before the enemy can respond effectively.

State or non-state activities that fall between peace and conventional war — coercive actions designed to achieve strategic objectives while staying below the threshold that would trigger a significant military response.

A form of irregular warfare in which small, mobile units use ambush, raid and sabotage to harass, attrit and exhaust a conventionally superior force over an extended campaign. The word is Spanish for little war, and it entered military usage during the Peninsular War of 1808 to 1814.

Territory under adversary control where friendly forces cannot operate openly. The operational environment in which unconventional warfare, resistance movements, and clandestine operations are conducted.

Actions that prevent or impede an adversary from doing what it wants to do. A core method of unconventional warfare that degrades enemy capability without requiring decisive engagement.

A capability, technology, or tactic that dramatically increases the combat effectiveness of a force beyond what its size alone would suggest. In irregular warfare, indigenous knowledge, terrain, and population support are the primary force multipliers.

A government displaced from its country of origin that continues to claim legitimate sovereign authority from abroad. Typically takes sanctuary in an allied nation-state and serves as the political focal point for resistance.

A pre-arranged concealed location used to pass messages, materials, or funds between operatives without requiring direct personal contact — reducing the risk of surveillance detection.

An operational approach where subordinate units execute independently based on commander’s intent rather than detailed centralized direction. Essential for resistance forces operating in denied areas with degraded communications.

Deliberate measures to mislead adversary decision-makers by manipulating, distorting, or falsifying evidence to induce the enemy to react in a manner prejudicial to their interests.

The removal of personnel or materiel from a denied or hostile area through clandestine, covert, or low-visibility means. The operational complement to infiltration.

A covert operation designed to appear as though it was carried out by a party other than the actual perpetrator — to deceive observers, provoke a desired reaction, or shift blame.

A clandestine group within a country that sympathizes with and works for an enemy power, undermining the state from within while it faces external threat. Named during the Spanish Civil War.

The use of threats — explicit or implied — to prevent an adversary from taking an unwanted action by convincing them the costs will outweigh any potential gains.

Financial, political, logistical, and informational assistance provided by expatriate communities to resistance or insurgent movements in their homeland. A critical external resource for sustained operations.

The deliberate targeting of an adversary’s economic capacity — through sanctions, blockades, sabotage of economic infrastructure, trade disruption, or financial system attacks — to degrade their ability to sustain conflict.

The surrounding of enemy forces to cut off retreat, resupply, and reinforcement — forcing surrender, destruction, or breakout under unfavorable conditions. In guerrilla warfare, the concept works in reverse: encircled forces use interior lines and popular support to survive.

A government-imposed restriction on trade with a specific country or entity — prohibiting the export, import, or transit of designated goods, technology, or services. Distinguished from sanctions by its focus on trade flows rather than financial systems.

Assistance provided to a resistance movement by foreign states, organizations, or diaspora communities — including weapons, training, funding, intelligence, diplomatic recognition, and sanctuary.

Armed or political conflict in which ethnic identity is the primary axis of mobilization — groups organize, fight, and define enemies along ethnic, tribal, or communal lines rather than purely ideological or class-based divisions.

A perceived injustice, deprivation, or violation of rights that motivates individuals and groups to resist authority. The raw material from which resistance movements are built — necessary but not sufficient for mobilization.

A coordinated work stoppage across multiple industries or an entire economy — designed to paralyze the state’s ability to function, demonstrating mass opposition and imposing economic costs that compel political concessions.

Deliberately false or misleading information created and spread with the intent to deceive, confuse, or manipulate a target audience. Distinguished from misinformation (unintentionally false) by the element of deliberate intent.

The use of digital tools and platforms to organize, communicate, and conduct resistance activities — from encrypted messaging and social media coordination to hacktivism and cyber sabotage.

A revolutionary strategy developed by Che Guevara and Régis Debray holding that a small guerrilla nucleus (foco) can catalyze mass revolution without waiting for objective conditions to mature — the armed vanguard creates the conditions through action.

A counterinsurgency approach that prioritizes winning civilian loyalty and addressing political grievances over purely military operations, recognizing that population support is decisive in irregular conflicts.

A modern strategy that blends conventional military force, irregular tactics, cyber operations, economic coercion, and information warfare to achieve strategic goals while avoiding direct state-to-state conflict.

The organized use of subversion and violence to seize, nullify, or challenge political control of a region. The word names both the activity and the organization conducting it. US and NATO doctrine define it differently on one material point, which is whether violence is required.

The integrated employment of capabilities — including PSYOP, electronic warfare, cyber operations, and deception — to influence, disrupt, or corrupt adversary decision-making while protecting one’s own.

The methods through which irregular forces sustain operations — drawing on local populations, external sponsors, captured materiel, and shadow economies to maintain combat effectiveness over extended campaigns.

T.E. Lawrence’s irregular warfare doctrine — emphasizing mobility, psychological pressure, and disruption of enemy supply lines rather than pitched battle — remains foundational to modern unconventional warfare thinking.

A form of decentralized insurgency where autonomous cells or individuals operate independently — guided by shared ideology rather than command hierarchy — making the network highly resilient to leadership decapitation.

The systematic mapping and analysis of relationships, communication patterns, and influence flows within human organizations to identify key nodes, vulnerabilities, and operational patterns.

A form of warfare in which states and non-state actors campaign to assure or coerce states or other groups through indirect, non-attributable, or asymmetric activities. The governing definition changed in 2025. The older formulation, a violent struggle for legitimacy and influence over relevant populations, has been superseded, and the current wording reaches competition short of violence as well as armed conflict.

The perceived right to govern — the degree to which a population and the international community accept an authority as rightful, lawful, and worthy of obedience. The central object of competition in irregular warfare.

A coherent system of beliefs, values, and ideas that provides the intellectual framework for a political movement — defining goals, justifying methods, identifying enemies, and motivating participants.

A makeshift bomb constructed from available materials — military ordnance, commercial explosives, or homemade compounds — designed to destroy, incapacitate, or harass. The signature weapon of modern insurgency.

The systematic process of instilling a specific set of beliefs, values, and behavioral norms in new members of an organization — creating ideological commitment and group cohesion.

Deliberate targeting of critical civilian or military infrastructure — power grids, water systems, transportation networks, communications — to degrade an adversary’s capacity to govern, fight, or sustain its population.

The systematic gathering of information about adversaries, terrain, and conditions through human sources (HUMINT), signals (SIGINT), imagery (IMINT), open sources (OSINT), and other means to support decision-making.

Military actions involving the use of lethal force — direct fire, explosives, strikes — as distinguished from non-kinetic activities such as information operations, civil affairs, and diplomatic engagement.

An organized political and often military campaign to free a people or territory from colonial rule, foreign occupation, or systemic oppression. Distinguished by its claim to self-determination as a legal and moral right.

The social, cultural, economic, and political environment of a population within an operational area. Understanding human terrain is the prerequisite for effective counterinsurgency and unconventional warfare.

A violent uprising against an established authority — typically spontaneous or loosely organized, shorter in duration and less structured than an insurgency. May be a precursor to broader rebellion.

A military or political group that seizes and holds power through force, typically after a coup d’état. Governs through collective military leadership rather than constitutional civilian authority.

The body of international law governing the conduct of armed hostilities — regulating the means and methods of warfare, protecting civilians and prisoners, and defining combatant status. Also known as International Humanitarian Law (IHL).

An individual or group that uses computer hacking for politically motivated purposes — website defacement, data leaks, DDoS attacks, and other cyber operations conducted in support of a political cause.

Mao Zedong’s revolutionary strategy of protracted people’s war — a three-phase progression from guerrilla defense through strategic stalemate to conventional counteroffensive, built on rural mass mobilization and political indoctrination.

The large-scale organization of civilians for political or military action — the conversion of popular grievance into organized resistance through propaganda, grassroots networks, and ideological commitment.

The imposition of direct military control over civilian government functions — suspending normal legal protections, granting military forces policing authority, and typically restricting civil liberties including assembly, movement, and communication.

A model of urban guerrilla warfare combining intelligence penetration, selective assassination, and political strategy to systematically dismantle British control in Ireland — arguably the first modern insurgency campaign.

The deliberate use of storytelling, propaganda, and information operations to shape public perception, delegitimize adversaries, and frame conflict in terms favorable to one’s strategic objectives.

Organized opposition through nonviolent, non-cooperative methods — strikes, boycotts, civil disobedience, go-slows, and symbolic acts — designed to erode the occupier’s or regime’s authority without direct confrontation.

Any form of communication — especially of a biased or misleading nature — designed to influence the opinions, emotions, attitudes, or behavior of a target audience in order to benefit the sponsor.

A conflict in which external powers support local surrogate forces to fight on their behalf — pursuing strategic objectives while avoiding direct military engagement and maintaining plausible deniability.

Planned operations to convey selected information to targeted audiences to influence their emotions, reasoning, and behavior in ways that support the operational objectives of the commander or movement.

An area where government or occupying forces cannot safely operate due to resistance activity, hostile terrain, or loss of population control. Often represents de facto territorial control by insurgent forces.

The process of identifying, controlling, and protecting information about friendly operations that could give an adversary an advantage. In resistance contexts, OPSEC failures are often fatal.

The overt, usually legal political arm of a resistance or insurgency, responsible for negotiation, diplomatic engagement, international advocacy and open contact with the civilian population. It is not clandestine, and that is the whole point: it gives the movement an address, a spokesman and a body that a government can sign an agreement with.

An armed force composed of civilian volunteers who are not part of the regular military establishment. May serve defensive, offensive, or auxiliary roles depending on legal status and organizational allegiance.

The process of assembling, organizing, and activating resources — human, material, and institutional — for conflict. In resistance contexts, mobilization transforms latent popular support into active participation.

A threatening or instructive message distributed clandestinely — typically at night — to a target population, officials, or potential collaborators. A classic psychological operations tactic used by underground movements.

A detailed accounting of an adversary’s military units, strength, disposition, command structure, equipment, and capabilities. The foundational intelligence product for planning operations.

Any entity that exercises political influence or employs organized violence but is not a sovereign state — including insurgent groups, terrorist organizations, militias, criminal networks, NGOs, and multinational corporations.

The effective control of territory by a foreign military force that is not the sovereign authority. Under international law, occupation triggers specific legal obligations regarding the civilian population, governance, and use of force.

Military and political operations designed to establish government control over a population and territory contested by insurgents — combining security operations, governance, development, and population control measures.

The employment of all means short of war — diplomatic, informational, economic, and covert — to achieve political objectives that would otherwise require military force. George Kennan defined it as the logical application of Clausewitz in peacetime.

A strategic approach in which the weaker side deliberately extends the duration of conflict to exhaust the stronger adversary’s political will, economic resources, and military capacity — trading time for strategic advantage.

A private corporation providing military and security services for profit — ranging from logistics and training to direct combat operations. PMCs operate in a legal gray zone that state actors exploit for deniability and force projection.

Intelligence derived from publicly available information — including media, social media, commercial satellite imagery, public records, and academic publications — collected and analyzed for operational purposes.

An irregular combatant fighting behind enemy lines, typically as part of an organized resistance movement against foreign occupation. The term carries strong WWII-era associations but applies across conflicts.

An armed force organized along military lines but not part of a state’s formal military establishment. Paramilitaries occupy an ambiguous legal and operational space — they may support the state, oppose it, or operate as deniable proxies.

Mao Zedong’s strategic concept in which the entire population is mobilized as participants in revolutionary warfare — the guerrilla army draws from, hides within, and is sustained by the people, who are the ‘sea’ in which guerrilla ‘fish’ swim.

A political theory holding that dramatic acts of violence or resistance communicate a message more powerfully than words alone — the action itself is the propaganda, designed to inspire followers and demonstrate the vulnerability of the state.

The strategic concept that a militarily superior power can become trapped in a conflict it cannot win, escalate, or exit — where each incremental commitment deepens involvement without bringing resolution, and withdrawal carries unacceptable political costs.

Armed opposition to a standing government that has not yet reached the sustained intensity, organization, or territorial control required for recognition as an insurgency or belligerency under international law.

Actions designed to undermine the authority, integrity, or functioning of a government or institution from within, including infiltration of security forces, corruption of officials, and exploitation of legal or bureaucratic systems.

Governmental functions — security, taxation, justice, health services — performed by an irregular organization to replace or compete with the existing regime’s governance in contested or denied areas.

A strategy of long-term ideological conflict combining guerrilla military tactics with political mobilization to overthrow an existing state or occupying power and replace it with a new order.

The deliberate destruction, disruption or obstruction of an adversary’s infrastructure, production, transport, communications or morale. Sabotage is the highest-leverage activity available to a resistance because it attacks the one thing an occupier cannot garrison everywhere at once, which is the machinery that keeps an occupation running.

The use of targeted violence against specific individuals — military commanders, intelligence officers, collaborators — to undermine enemy control while preserving civilian support for the resistance.

Elite military units trained and organized for unconventional warfare, direct action, reconnaissance, and foreign internal defense — often operating in small teams deep inside denied territory.

Coordinated attacks by multiple dispersed units converging from different directions simultaneously to overwhelm an adversary’s ability to respond — applicable from Mongol cavalry to modern drone swarms.

A swift, surprise attack against a specific target followed by planned withdrawal. One of the three core guerrilla tactical actions alongside the ambush and reconnaissance. Unlike an ambush, a raid targets a fixed position.

A clandestine system of routes, safe houses, and facilitators used to move people, weapons, funds, or information through hostile or denied territory. Distinguished from a single escape route by its organized, repeatable infrastructure.

The systematic observation and collection of information about enemy forces, terrain, weather, and civilian activity to support operational planning. The third leg of the guerrilla tactical triad alongside raid and ambush.

A framework placing resistance activity on a spectrum running from lawful nonviolent action through civil disobedience, rebellion and insurgency to belligerency, ordered by intensity, organization and duration. Its practical use is legal rather than tactical: each threshold changes the status of the participants and the rules that govern responses to them.

An organized effort by some portion of the civil population of a country to resist the legally established government or an occupying power and to disrupt civil order and stability. It is the entity that unconventional warfare exists to enable, and the entity that national resistance planning exists to prepare in advance.

Any space — physical, legal, financial, or virtual — that enables an irregular organization to plan, organize, train, conduct operations, or rest with limited interference from enemy or counterinsurgent forces.

Coercive measures — economic, financial, diplomatic, or travel restrictions — imposed by states or international bodies to compel a target government, organization, or individual to change behavior without resorting to armed force.

Academic frameworks explaining how, why, and when collective action emerges and sustains itself. Provides analytical tools for understanding resistance mobilization, framing, resource dynamics, and political opportunity.

The replacement of one government or political system with another — achieved through revolution, coup d’état, foreign intervention, negotiated transition, or election. A potential objective of both resistance movements and external powers.

The right of peoples to determine their own political status and governance — a foundational principle of international law enshrined in the UN Charter that provides legal and moral justification for many resistance movements.

A pre-positioned clandestine organization designed to operate in territory after it is overrun by an adversary — conducting intelligence collection, sabotage, and resistance support from within occupied areas.

The cellular organization within a resistance that conducts operations in areas inaccessible to guerrillas, above all in towns and cities under the control of local security forces. It is the command, intelligence, documentation and communications layer of a movement, not merely its hiding places.

The unlawful use or threat of violence against civilians or noncombatants for political, ideological, or religious purposes, intended to coerce governments, intimidate populations, or provoke disproportionate responses.

A comprehensive national defense concept in which the entire population is prepared to resist occupation through coordinated military, paramilitary, and civilian resistance across all domains — armed, political, economic, and informational.

A revolutionary theory holding that a small, disciplined elite — the vanguard — must lead and direct the broader population toward political transformation, as the masses cannot independently develop revolutionary consciousness.

Activities conducted to enable a resistance movement or insurgency to coerce, disrupt, or overthrow a government or occupying power by operating through or with an underground, auxiliary, and guerrilla force in a denied area. UW is the one core special operations activity defined by whose war it is: the resistance owns the objective, the sponsor supplies the means.

The use of digital attacks against adversary networks, infrastructure, and information systems to achieve military or political objectives — an increasingly central domain of both conventional and hybrid conflict.

Robert Taber’s metaphor describing how a small guerrilla force can exhaust a vastly superior army — like a flea on a dog, the guerrilla is never where the dog bites, but the dog cannot stop scratching.

An economic system shaped by and dependent on ongoing conflict — where armed groups, criminal networks, and war profiteers develop financial interests in perpetuating violence rather than resolving it.

A conflict in which one party’s gains directly translate to the other’s losses — typically characteristic of revolutionary wars, total insurgencies, and existential conflicts where negotiated settlement is considered unacceptable by at least one party.

An organized operation employing paid personnel to post inflammatory, divisive, or misleading content on social media and online forums — typically at the direction of a state actor or political organization.

A military or paramilitary organization composed of local volunteers tasked with defending their home territory — typically operating alongside regular forces with lighter equipment and focused on area security, rear-area defense, and resistance.

Propaganda that is openly attributed to its true source — the audience knows who produced it and can evaluate it accordingly. Distinguished from gray (unattributed) and black (falsely attributed) propaganda by its transparency.