THE FIVE FALLACIES OF CLEAR-HOLD-BUILD: COUNTER-INSURGENCY, GOVERNANCE AND DEVELOPMENT AT THE LOCAL LEVEL

摘要

Central to the counter-insurgency campaigns conducted in Iraq and Afghanistan over the last decade has been the concept of 'clear-hold-build' - the notion that government legitimacy can be spread like ink across a page by, first, clearing an area of insurgents; second, holding that area securely; and, third, building infrastructure and undertaking local development projects. In this article, David H Ucko explores five fallacies surrounding the concept to show that it cannot be applied indiscriminately. Instead, it needs to take account of the individual features of each locality, each village - because the page is rarely blank before the ink is applied.