text: Insurgency Prerequisites and Fundamentals
  * Phasing and timing.
  * Organizational and operational patterns.
  First Dynamic—Leadership
  4-49. A group committing random violence is not an insurgency. In an insurgency, there is a political
  rationale behind the violence. An insurgency requires leadership to provide vision, direction, guidance,
  coordination, and organizational coherence. Leadership is required to mobilize the population by using a
  root cause. Leadership is needed organize tasks to undermine the legitimacy of the host nation and to
  establish legitimacy or acquiescence to their movement. The ability of insurgent leaders to organize and
  their willingness to distribute power across their organization is vital to the long-term success of their
  movement. Organizations dependent on key charismatic personalities to provide cohesion and motivation
  for their movement are vulnerable to disruptions if those leaders are co-opted or killed.
  4-50. The political leadership can be the same as its military leadership. However, sometimes this is not the
  case and there is well-defined political leadership. When an insurgency has well-defined political
  leadership, that leadership is called the political cadre. The political cadre may participate in the political
  system or it may be clandestine and illegal. In either case, counterinsurgents define the political cadre of an
  insurgency when there are insurgent leaders who are mainly involved in the political struggle and not the
  armed struggle.
  4-51. The political cadre are the force behind the ideology of an insurgency. They are actively engaged in
  the struggle to accomplish insurgent goals. They may also work within a political party to work within the
  political system and provide some legitimacy for the insurgency to the population. The cadre is active in
  spreading the ideology of the insurgency, if the insurgency has an ideology. Modern noncommunist
  insurgencies rarely, if ever, use the term cadre; however, these movements usually include a group that
  performs similar functions. In a movement based on religious extremism, religious leaders can play a role
  similar to political cadre.
  4-52. The leadership of an insurgency is composed of leaders from the political cadre, guerrillas, and
  auxiliaries. These may or may not be the same individuals. Moreover, they may work closely together or
  operate in a decentralized manner, depending on their need for security or other operational concerns.
  Insurgent leaders usually exercise leadership through force of personality, the power of revolutionary ideas,
  and personal charisma. In some insurgencies, they may hold their position through religious, clan, or tribal
  authority. These leaders may include supporting members, much like command and staff in a regular
  military. These supporting members may include advisors, logistics and administration personnel,
  spokespersons, and those leading operations. Insurgent leaders may attain positions within the government
  and work to undermine the government.
  4-53. Poor leadership can undermine an insurgency. Insurgent leaders who undermine their own legitimacy
  with the population, for example, will significantly hamper the success of their insurgency. An analysis of
  insurgent leadership provides information on how effective its leaders are in mobilizing the population and
  effectively using resources to undermine the host nation.
  Second Dynamic—Ideology
  4-54. The insurgents must have a problem that justifies their actions in relation to the population’s
  grievances and explains what is wrong with the status quo. Insurgents use a narrative to connect a
  population’s grievances with its actions and demands. When an insurgency uses a narrative to mobilize a
  population, these grievances become root causes. An essential part of the ability of an insurgency to
  mobilize a population is an insurgency’s ideology. An ideology is the integrated assertions, theories, and
  aims that constitute a sociopolitical program. Not all insurgencies are ideological, but an ideology provides
  an insurgency with a message of change that is normally coherent and logical, based upon the insurgency’s
  underlying assumptions.
  4-55. Ideology is a factor that unifies the many divergent interests and goals among the insurgency’s
  members and the general population. As a common set of interrelated beliefs, values, and norms, ideology
  is used to influence the behavior of individuals within the group. It explains how the world works. Ideology