This research examines the concept of guerrilla warfare, identifies applications of the concept, and analyzes the moresignificant of these applications. First, through examination of the concept, and its role in the process of political devel opment, guerrilla warfare is defined, and explained. Second, instances of the application of the guerrilla warfare concept are identified in the contexts of insurgents, incumbents, and locale. Lastly, through analysis of the more significant applications of the guerrilla warfare concept, an effort is made to identify those factors which caused guerrilla warfare efforts to be either successes or failures.
"Guerrilla warfare as a form of resistance to foreign occupation or an unpopular domestic government" has been around "for the better part of forever . . ." (Dyer, 1985, 161). Thus, while guerrilla warfare is part war, it is also part political participation, and part diplomacy.
Francisco de Vitoria (1525) established the modern concept of international law with respect to war, which holds that war is licit as a last resort, when all other means of persuasion
2have failed. Thus, war becomes an extension of political par ticipation, diplomacy. This concept goes on to hold that the cause which justifies war is the violation of a right, and that "an essential condition for the licitness of a war is that the evils resulting from it will not be greater than the good intended" (Scott, 1934, 157). A major problem with this pre mise, whether it is applied in the contexts of either conven tional or guerrilla warfare, is the perception from which the evaluation is made. The United States government, as an exam ple, found no problems in justifying the activities of the Contra guerrillas in Nicargua, while, at the same time, denouncing the guerrilla activity in neighboring El Salvador. Many other governments assessed the two situations differently from the American assessment. It largely ...