I rarely disagree with Kyle, but I will along the margins here. Is COIN harmful? Yes. Does it create suspect communities? Yes. Are there things we can learn from thinking about domestic white supremacists as insurgents, esp. w.r.t. questions of popular support? Also yes. 1/ https://twitter.com/KyleSRapp/status/1356844001387716610

This, I think, is the key point: support for violence among the general population. Violence like the Capitol attack, as well as more quotidian hate, is made possible bc of a population not accustomed to seeing white supremacy as a problem. 2/

Moreover, the Q of whether we should apply counterinsurgency doctrine domestically misses the point a little bit: we already do. See e.g. the response to COIN tactics employed outside Boston. And, y'know, ask communities of color. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/01/27/harvard-calls-course-amid-petition-campaign 3/

Is the blunt instrument of “winning hearts & minds” a useful way of thinking about dismantling white supremacist power structures that enable white supremacist violence in the first place? Of course not. And, COIN at home isn't a future hypothetical. 4/

That pre-existing infrastructure means we need to be extra careful even if there are useful insights we can take from a COIN framework, because it makes it that much easier to further police militarization & move attention away from social justice-oriented solutions. 5/

For those curious about the relationship between international counterinsurgency operations and militarized policing in the U.S., I highly recommend Stuart Schrader’s “Badges Without Borders.” /fin https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520295629/badges-without-borders