The Normalization of Guerrilla Warfare

Summary:

Why did rebels infrequently embrace guerrilla warfare as a military strategy in the nineteenth century but near-universally adopt it after the twentieth century? In this seminar, Professor Irajpanah presents research that suggests changing beliefs about guerrilla warfare, responding to emergent decolonial politics of the late nineteenth century, facilitated this phenomenon. The research examines this argument through an exploration of extra-, intra-, and inter-state wars from 1816 to 2022. Professor Irajpanah will qualitatively illustrate the normative trajectory of guerrilla warfare through two discussions: rebel debates during the Philippine-American War (1899-1902) and cross-temporal perceptions of guerrilla warfare by revolutionary socialist leaders.

Bio:

Katherine Irajpanah is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Government. Her research examines issues at the intersection of political violence, international law, and U.S. foreign policy. Drawing upon archival research and a novel dataset on armed conflict, her first book project studies the impact of international norms on military strategy and conflict outcomes. In other work, she explores how law and psychology shape foreign policy decision-making. Her academic work has appeared in Security Studies and Presidential Studies Quarterly. She has contributed commentary to Lawfare and the Los Angeles Times. 

Previously, Katherine was a Rosenwald Postdoctoral Fellow at the Dickey Center for International Understanding at Dartmouth College, an International Security Program Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, a Minerva-USIP Peace and Security Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace, and a Hans J. Morgenthau Grand Strategy Fellow at Notre Dame’s International Security Center. She holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Harvard University and a B.A. in International Relations from Stanford University.