text: Chapter 4
  the government is to blame." The solution to the latter thought is more complex than the solution to the
  former.
  4-17. Identity, based on cultural, religious, or other cultural groupings, can create a strong root cause. In
  cases where groups are persecuted and underrepresented, the insurgents can use a narrative that uses this
  underrepresentation or persecution as a root cause against the government. In some cases, groups are
  concentrated in certain regions where the government exercises biased controls over those groups. This
  might be an effective root cause to use for an insurgency based on a nullification of government control.
  4-18. Religion can also be an effective root cause. Religious-based movements create a perception that a
  certain type of religion should drive politics and groups should convert to that religion. Insurgents attempt
  to present their ideology as the true and only correct form of their religion. Insurgents can use religion as
  part of an identity based root cause if the government persecutes a certain religious group. However,
  insurgents can also use religion to create an ideology that everyone should be a part of, and governed by, a
  certain religion. In this case, a religious-based group could seek to overthrow its government and replace it
  with a religious based government.
  4-19. The presence of a foreign force can be the root cause of an insurgency. The presence of foreign
  military forces can also be used as a means to mobilize popular support. The presence can come after a
  major combat operation that replaces a government. As such, any major combat operation should include
  planning for stability operations to prevent an insurgency. However, this could also be a root cause if there
  are Soldiers or Marines stationed in a host nation. Insurgents can use the perception that outsiders exploit
  the host nation or that the host-nation government excessively caters to foreigners as a root cause.
  4-20. Land disputes concerning ownership, usage, and rights, especially to agrarian, mining, or other land
  based livelihoods or identities, can be used as a root cause. Land disputes often manifest themselves as an
  issue of income inequality. For example, landowners may have tenant farmers that pay the landowners’
  rents. Insurgent groups can often use a narrative that exploits unequal land ownership as a root cause, and
  promises redistribution of land and land reform to the tenant farmers as an effective justification for the
  farmers to join the insurgency.
  4-21. Corruption of the host-nation government can be a root cause. If institutional corruption is systemic,
  ongoing, and considered unfair, insurgents can use that as an effective narrative. For example, corruption in
  government development programs can cause resentment by the aggrieved group. Corruption can lead to
  loss of host-nation legitimacy and can undermine government control of an area.
  4-22. Insurgents can use a gap between a population’s expectations and the government’s capability to
  meet those expectations as a root cause. The larger the gap, the greater the population’s perceived or real
  sense of deprivation. This allows for the development of a narrative in which the insurgents promise to
  close the gap.
  MEANS
  4-23. It takes considerable resources to mount a violent challenge to the incumbent political authorities and
  the methods an insurgency uses to secure those means determines a great deal about its behavior. The
  leaders of a potential insurgency must assemble and organize personnel, funds, weapons, and systems of
  secure communications and logistics. The other prerequisites relate to the means. For example, recruiters
  can use existing social networks to find new recruits. (See JP 3-24 for a detailed discussion on means.)
  4-24. Commanders’ and staffs’ planning efforts should consider how an insurgent movement resources
  itself. An insurgency will often depend on a local population for resourcing and recruitment. In these cases,
  insurgents base an insurgency on social relationships to include, but not limited to, villages, clans, tribes,
  ethnicities, or other groups. These groups will often freely give resources, but some coercion may be used.
  In the cases where resources are freely given, the insurgency may have legitimacy. However, the use of
  local resources also restricts an insurgency. For resources to be given freely, the insurgent is constrained by
  the social norms of the groups. Moreover, because an insurgency may be seen as aligned to a certain group,
  there is a certain amount of difficulty expanding the insurgency beyond its core group.
  4-25. A local area’s insurgency and population could connect, through communications, with its diasporas
  and attain resources from around the world. If its diasporas relate to the struggle, they may freely give