POLS 4212 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Just War Theory, Asymmetric Warfare, Conventional Warfare
3 Apr 2019
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Document Summary
The strategic objective of the weaker power is not to go head to head with the superior power. It is not a good strategy, it doesn"t make any sense. Asymmetrical warfare isn"t new, there are examples of asymmetrical strategies in conventional warfare but its not the same thing because this is an asymmetrical war. Obviously, overpowered militarily, terrorism must opt for more advantageous strategy of fighting, the primary strategic objective tends to be psychological, not military. You are not going to destroy the other side"s military through terrorism, but that is not the objective because that is conventional warfare. It is psychological, it is to intimidate the adversary psychologically by directly or indirectly inflicting fear and terror in order to achieve particular ends. This strategy allows for a small number of combatants to have a disproportionate impact on a substantially larger, more powerful enemy by targeting specifically, non combatants.
