text: Chapter 2
  limited forces to protect personnel, resources, or infrastructure for their own interests. A peacekeeping
  force may be maintaining a position of neutrality in the conflict. There can also be informal groupings of
  military power. For example, local gangs, armed militias, and private security agents can be a factor in
  local areas.
  2-23. Commanders and staffs should analyze friendly, neutral, and enemy forces with both qualitative and
  quantitative data. Some aspects to consider include—
  * Position of forces in national and local governmental structure.
  * General organization, training, and doctrine.
  * Economic basis (to include the appropriations system).
  * Conscription or recruitment systems.
  * Police role in the nation’s internal security.
  * Rapport with population.
  * The impact of other international forces already there or there in the recent past.
  These considerations are particularly important with regard to the insurgents. Knowing from what groups
  and sources, both within the country of conflict and outside of it, are providing what kinds of support (for
  example, financial, personnel, materiel, and provisions) and by what processes or routes is critical.
  Insurgencies that continue to meet their tangible support needs are difficult to defeat.
  2-24. One enemy force in a counterinsurgency can vary widely from another. Some may be based on
  cellular organizations while others may be more hierarchical. Moreover, there may be a wide variance in
  enemy capabilities. Some insurgencies may have capabilities to conduct large scale and well coordinated
  attacks that may rival the capability of a host nation’s military. Others may have less capability and may
  rely on small-unit tactics. (See paragraphs 4-76 through 4-103 for a discussion of the eighth dynamic,
  organizational and operational patterns, and see chapter 5 for a further discussion on enemy military
  forces.)
  ECONOMIC
  2-25. The economic variable encompasses individual and group behaviors related to gaining access to,
  producing, distributing, and consuming resources. These behaviors determine incentives and disincentives
  that encourage or discourage economic decisions. The sum of these individual and group decisions may
  determine the production, distribution, and consumption of economic resources. Typically, an economy is
  conceptualized as currency, stocks, major commodities, banking, and trade controlled and monitored by the
  government. However, informal economies, trade, or economic exchange outside state-controlled or
  money-based transactions may be of equal or greater importance than formal economies in understanding
  an operational environment. While the world economy continues to grow more interdependent, local
  economies remain relatively distinct. These differences significantly influence political choices, including
  individuals’ decisions to support or subvert the existing order. When commanders and staffs analyze a local
  economy, they consider both governmental policies and the type of local economy.
  2-26. Types of economies vary widely. When looking at economic activities, commanders and staffs strive
  to understand the relative importance of the various sectors of an economy. Comparing the percentage of
  the economy in the public sector versus the private sector provides some understanding of the structure of
  the economy. Moreover, the private and public sector can potentially be divided into different sectors based
  on type of activities. Agriculture, raw materials, services, and other types of production play an important
  role in defining the economy of a local area. It is important to analyze governmental policies. Corruption,
  the rule of law, and macroeconomic policy play a role in the structure of a local economy.
  2-27. Another important factor in analyzing economic activity is the informal economy. In weak states,
  understanding the informal economy is key to providing a full understanding of an operational
  environment. The informal economy is those economic interactions and exchanges that are not recognized,
  regulated, controlled, or taxed by a state government. In this case, informal does not always equal
  illegitimate. For example, a black market is a form of informal economy based on criminal activities such
  as racketeering, money laundering, prostitution, drug trafficking, and smuggling. On the other hand,
  open-air markets and barter systems are legitimate activities that often contribute to an informal economy.