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Resistance Operating Concept

A glowing digital map of a fictional country outlined in bright gold, with interconnected network nodes and lines across the terrain. The image conveys national resilience, connectivity, and defense networks. Overlaid text reads: ‘Resistance Operating Concept (ROC) – A Framework for National Resistance and Total Defense.
A printed copy of the Resistance Operating Concept (ROC) manual stands upright on a worn wooden desk inside a simple military headquarters setting. The cover is clearly visible, leaning against a stack of plain, title-less field manuals. A black coffee mug sits to the left, and an opened lensatic compass and a small medical reference card rest in the foreground. The lighting is warm and subdued, giving the scene a realistic operational feel while keeping the ROC manual as the focal point.

The Resistance Operating Concept (ROC) provides a modern framework for how nations can prepare for, organize, and enable national resistance in the face of coercion, crisis, or occupation. Developed through multinational collaboration and informed by contemporary European security concerns, the ROC clarifies how whole societies can build resilience that endures beyond conventional defeat.

Rather than offering tactics or prescriptive checklists, the ROC establishes the principles, structures, and legal foundations required to integrate resistance into national defense planning before a crisis occurs.

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What Is the ROC?

The ROC is a strategic planning concept that outlines how a legitimate government can prepare for and coordinate resistance activities if sovereignty is threatened or lost. It builds a shared lexicon and operational framework using terminology familiar to allied forces, including underground networks, auxiliary support systems, shadow governance elements, and the role of armed resistance within a broader societal effort.

The ROC is not doctrine, not a how-to manual, and not an insurgency guide.

It is a conceptual foundation designed to:

  • Establish a common understanding of national resistance
  • Clarify the roles of government, civil society, and security institutions
  • Align partner nations and allies on terminology and expectations
  • Encourage pre-crisis preparation, legal structures, and resilience-building
  • Integrate resistance planning within Total Defense and Comprehensive Defense models

Why Was It Created?

The ROC was developed to fill a significant gap: many nations recognize the need for societal resilience and national resistance but lack a unified, interoperable model for what resistance looks like at the strategic, operational, and organizational levels.

The ROC was created to:

  • Provide a coherent national-resistance framework across civil and military domains
  • Strengthen deterrence by ensuring capable, organized resistance options exist before crisis
  • Guide governments on pre-crisis legal, political, and societal preparation
  • Integrate resistance into national defense plans, not treat it as an ad-hoc wartime improvisation
  • Clarify the relationship between resistance, resilience, and allied support

It addresses a doctrinal gap left by two decades of counterinsurgency-focused Western military literature, bringing attention back to defensive, population-centered resistance under occupation.

How to Use It

The ROC is intended as a strategic guide, not a step-by-step manual. Governments, planners, educators, and allied partners can use it to:

  • Inform Total Defense and Comprehensive Defense program development
  • Build or refine national resilience strategies
  • Align interagency organizations around shared resistance principles
  • Develop policy, legal, and governance frameworks for resistance
  • Educate security professionals on the organizational and societal dimensions of resistance
  • Improve interoperability with partners who may support resistance activities
  • Conduct staff rides, table-top exercises, and wargames related to national defense planning

The ROC is most effective when integrated into normal defense planning cycles, civil preparedness programs, and multinational training initiatives.

A vertical infographic titled “Resistance Operating Concept — What’s Inside?” presenting five sections with icons and short bullet points. The sections include Foundations of Resistance, Components of Resistance, Planning and Preparation, Operating Under Occupation, and Transition and Restoration. Each section uses a black title bar with a red accent, minimalist line icons, and concise bullets describing key concepts such as national resilience, underground networks, societal mobilization, covert operations, and post-liberation governance. The design uses a white background, simple vector graphics, and a structured, military-style layout.

The Resistance Operating Concept provides nations, institutions, and partner forces with a coherent framework for understanding how resistance functions before, during, and after occupation. It blends doctrine, governance, and operational design into a single reference that strengthens national resilience and clarifies how societies can prepare, endure, and recover under hostile pressure. The ROC serves as a foundational guide for integrating whole-of-society defense into modern security environments.Related Topics on The Resistance Hub

The Resistance Hub serves as a focal point for many of the concepts explored within the ROC. Readers can explore detailed, source-driven coverage of key resistance and irregular warfare subjects, including:

These articles expand on specific elements of resistance planning and execution, providing context and practical understanding that complement the ROC’s strategic framework.