THE EFFECT OF OPPORTUNITY COST AND HAWKISHNESS ON PROTESTS IN OCCUPIED REGIONS

This paper examines how the opportunity costs of the leader of a national protest movement and the intrinsic hawkishness or pacifism of the occupier affect the nature of the movement against occupation. The characteristics of the population residing in the occupied region, the nature of punishment that is being meted out to the protestors, and the structure of enforcement costs that lead to these outcomes are discussed in the paper.     

The Prickly Thorn: A Re-evaluation of Orde Wingate and the Special Night Squads

Orde Wingate’s Special Night Squads played a key role in defeating the Great Arab Revolt of 1936–1939. Wingate’s Night Squads were distinctive in their approach to counter-insurgency warfare; in addition to bringing Arab insurgents to battle, the Night Squads proved their mettle by ‘flying the flag’ and by improving cooperation between Jewish settlers and British servicemen. Nevertheless, the Night Squad’s accomplishments and legacy must be properly situated within the broader wave of tactical innovations undertaken by the British Army throughout the Rebellion.     

British counterinsurgency in Brunei and Sarawak, 1962–1963: developing best practices in the shadow of Malaya

This paper uses recently-released material from the ‘migrated archives’ to provide an original counterinsurgency analysis of the TNKU revolt in Brunei and Sarawak from December 1962 to May 1963. It argues that, despite a failure to act upon intelligence predicting the outbreak of insurgency, Britain developed a highly effective counterinsurgency organisation. These records also indicate that decision-makers drew inspiration from the Malayan Emergency to inform success in Brunei. Although Malaya has been challenged as a counterinsurgency paradigm, the Brunei operations show the utility of striking a balance between inappropriately copying from past campaigns and developing best practices applicable to the unique environment of Borneo. In turn, the evolution of effective operational practices in Brunei informed their successful application to the subsequent Indonesian Confrontation.