Samir Puri
To cite this article: Samir Puri (2015) The strategic art of confronting armed groups, Adelphi
Series, 55:459, 7-14
different path in its struggle with the Tamil Tigers: after several
ceasefires and unsuccessful efforts to negotiate a political solu-
tion, the government used overwhelming force to destroy its
opponent on the battlefield. Yet in neither case was the route
to resolution clear or straightforward to the respective govern-
ment or the expert community. This serves to underline the
difficulty for any government in using a combination of negoti-
ations and military force to bring a conflict to what it considers
to be an acceptable conclusion.
The examples of Northern Ireland and Sri Lanka are unusual
in that governments were able to bring the conflicts to a conclu-
sion, rather than simply containing them through a mixture of
negotiation and coercion. Many governments have to settle for
an intermediate objective. The table below distinguishes the
genuinely strategic outcomes that states may ultimately desire
from the practical outcomes that they are more likely to attain.
Notes
1 Simon Rogers, ‘Deaths in the 3 Ersel Aydinli and Nihat Ali
Northern Ireland Conflict since Ozcan, ‘The Conflict Resolution
1969’, Guardian, 10 June 2010, http:// and Counterterrorism Dilemma:
www.theguardian.com/news/ Turkey Faces its Kurdish Question’,
datablog/2010/jun/10/deaths-in- Terrorism and Political Violence, vol.
northern-ireland-conflict-data. 23, no. 3, 2011, p. 438.
2 National Centre for Historical 4 Stopping points are a useful way
Memory, ‘Armed Conflict in of thinking about what a strategy
Colombia Statistics’, http://www. can achieve in practice: Thomas C.
centrodememoriahistorica.gov. Schelling, Arms and Influence (New
co/micrositios/informeGeneral/ Haven, CT: Yale University Press,
estadisticas.html. 1966), p. 135.
14 | Fighting and Negotiating with Armed Groups