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 How Socio-Cultural Codes Shaped
Violent Mobilization and Pro-Insurgent
Support in the Chechen Wars
 Emil Aslan Souleimanov • Huseyn Aliyev

How Socio-Cultural
Codes Shaped
Violent Mobilization
and Pro-Insurgent
Support
in the Chechen Wars
Emil Aslan Souleimanov Huseyn Aliyev
Department of Security Studies, Center for Security Studies
Institute of Political Science Metropolitan University of Prague
Charles University Prague, Czech Republic
Prague, Czech Republic

ISBN 978-3-319-52916-5 ISBN 978-3-319-52917-2 (eBook)

DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-52917-2

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017934527

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of
translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on
microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and
retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology
now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are
exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information
in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the
publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to
the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The
publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institu-
tional affiliations.

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Printed on acid-free paper

This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature

The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
 PREFACE

This study argues that the existing scholarship on asymmetric conflict has
so far failed to take into account the role of socio-cultural disparities
among belligerents. In order to remedy this deficiency in the current
typologies of asymmetric conflict, this study conceptualizes socio-cultural
asymmetry under the term of asymmetry of values. It proposes that socio-
cultural values which are based upon the codes of retaliation, silence, and
hospitality – values which are intrinsic to honor cultures, yet absent from
modern institutionalized cultures – may significantly affect violent mobi-
lization and pro-insurgent support in asymmetric conflicts in that they
facilitate recruitment into and support for insurgent groups, while denying
such support to incumbent forces. Utilizing Russia’s counterinsurgency
campaigns in the First and Second Chechnya Wars as an empirical case
study, this study demonstrates that the concept of asymmetry of values
explains how asymmetry of values can have an effect on the dynamics of
contemporary irregular wars.

v
 CONTENTS

1 Foreword 1
Notes 6

2 Introduction 7
Organization of the Study 10
Asymmetry of Values: Toward Concept Building 11
Socio-Cultural Values: Honor Cultures 16
Typologizing Retaliation and Pro-Insurgent Support 21
Data and Methods 24
Notes 25

3 Chechnya: Ethnography and History 31

Chechens: An Ethnographic Portrait 31
The Chechnya Wars: A Chronology 36
Notes 41

4 The Case Study 45

Mechanism 1: Code of Retaliation 45
Mechanism 2: Code of Silence 50
Mechanism 3: Code of Hospitality 52
Notes 54

vii
viii CONTENTS

5 Conclusion 57
Alternative Explanations 57
Discussion of the (Possible) Limitations of the Study 60
Summary 62
Policy Recommendations 64
Notes 66

Bibliography 69

Index 77
 CHAPTER 1

Foreword

The past half century has witnessed a growing salience in insurgency and
terrorism. The wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Somalia are some
conspicuous examples that provide testimony for this assertion. Likewise,
the wars in Chechnya over the last twenty-plus years show the continued
relevance of these types of conflicts. In response, a not insignificant number
of books and articles explore the various characters and explanatory vari-
ables for the many conflicts where the weak fight the strong. Many of these
studies have attempted to analyze asymmetric conflicts by exploring the
numbers, organizations, and equipment of the adversaries. For example,
many of the works within the current corpus of research and analysis of
asymmetric conflicts have generally explored the physical, material, struc-
tural, and motivational aspects of these wars. This monograph helps fill a
gap that generally exists within the literature on asymmetric conflict. This
gap is the relative absence, until now, of studies that analyze the socio-
cultural values of the adversaries in asymmetric conflicts. Because the
existing body of knowledge and research that explains how different socio-
cultural values influence the interactive dynamics of asymmetric conflicts
has been incomplete and imperfect thus far, this study is timely.
There is another caveat emptor when it comes to typologies and taxo-
nomies. Although the term ‘asymmetric conflict’, first appeared in a paper
as early as 1974, the term asymmetric has come to include so many
approaches that it has lost some of its utility and clarity. For example,

© The Author(s) 2017 1

E.A. Souleimanov, H. Aliyev, How Socio-Cultural Codes Shaped
Violent Mobilization and Pro-Insurgent Support in the Chechen Wars,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-52917-2_1
2 HOW SOCIO-CULTURAL CODES SHAPED VIOLENT MOBILIZATION . . .

one article described Japan’s World War II conventional, but indirect,

attack against the British conventional forces in Singapore as asymmetric.
The term should not be that all-encompassing: such a broad approach to
defining asymmetric conflict diminishes the utility of the term. If every
type of asymmetry or indirect approach is subsumed within this definition,
then what approaches are excluded? The scope of analysis for asymmetric
conflict in this excellent monograph is generally limited to those conflicts
in which superior external military forces confront inferior states or indi-
genous groups on the territory of the latter. Insurgencies and small wars lie
in this category. Small wars are not big, force-on-force, state-on-state,
conventional, orthodox, unambiguous wars in which success is measurable
by phase lines crossed or hills seized. Small wars are counterinsurgency
(COIN), low-intensity conflicts, and peace operations, where ambiguity
rules and success is not necessarily guaranteed by superior firepower.1
This subject is important because asymmetric conflict is the most
probable form of conflict that the Western militaries face. Four factors
point to this probability: the Western powers represent the countries who
have the most advanced militaries (technology and firepower) in the
world; the economic and political homogenization among these states
essentially precludes a war among them; most rational adversaries in the
non-Western world would have learned from the Gulf War not to confront
the West on its terms; and, as a result, the USA and its European allies will
employ their firepower and technology in the less developed world,
against ostensibly inferior adversaries employing asymmetric approaches.
Asymmetric conflict will therefore be the norm, not the exception.
My own research has analyzed some contradictions that simply derive
from the logic that exists when a superior industrial or post-industrial
power faces an inferior, semi-feudal, semi-colonial, or pre-industrial adver-
sary. On the one hand, the great power intrinsically brings overwhel-
mingly superior resources and technology to this type of conflict. On the
other hand, the seemingly inferior opponent generally exhibits a super-
iority of will, demonstrated by a willingness to accept higher costs and by a
willingness to persevere against many odds. This disparity in will is one of
the most fundamental paradoxes of asymmetric conflict. ‘Death or victory’
is not simply a pithy slogan but it is a dilemma that asymmetric conflicts
engender: the qualitatively or quantitatively inferior opponent fights with
limited means for unlimited strategic objectives – independence.
Conversely, the qualitatively or quantitatively superior opponent fights
with potentially unlimited means for limited ends – the maintenance of
 1 FOREWORD 3

some peripheral imperial territory or outpost. Ostensibly weaker military

forces often prevail over an overwhelming superiority in firepower and
technology because they must – they are fighting for survival.2
History offers many examples of big power failure in the context of
asymmetric conflict: the Romans in the Teutoburg Forest, the British in
the American War of Independence, the French in the Peninsular War, the
French in Indochina and Algeria, the Americans in Vietnam, the Russians
in Afghanistan and Chechnya, and the Americans in Somalia. This list is
not entirely not exhaustive or homogeneous. It is also important to clarify
that the American Revolution, the Peninsular War, and the Vietnam War
represent examples of great powers failing to win against enemies whose
strategies combined asymmetric approaches with symmetric approaches.
Two things, however, qualify great powers’ failures in small wars. First, big
powers do not necessarily lose small wars but they simply fail to win them.
In fact, they often win many tactical victories on the battlefield. However,
in the absence of a threat to survival, the big power’s failure to quickly and
decisively attain its strategic aim leads to a loss of domestic support.
Second, the weaker opponent must be strategically circumspect enough
to avoid confronting the great power symmetrically, in a conventional war.
History also points to many examples where big powers achieved crushing
victories over small powers when the inferior side was unwise enough to
fight a war or a battle against a big power according to the big power’s
paradigm. The Battle of the Pyramids and the Battle of Omdurman
provide the most conspicuous examples of when primitive militaries
faced advanced militaries symmetrically. The Persian Gulf War of 1990–
1991 was the most recent example of an outmatched military force fight-
ing according to its opponent’s preferred paradigm.3
This precedent-setting study comprises a number of postulations.
Firstly, it asserts that the current scholarly works about asymmetric conflict
do not offer a sufficient explanation for the unique salience of sociocultural
values that many conflict-affected societies in the developing world engen-
der. These values can play a markedly significant role in the interaction and
escalation in the course of an asymmetric conflict and under certain con-
ditions may influence their outcomes. The analysis in this monograph thus
focuses on the asymmetry of sociocultural values as explanatory variables.
This research posits that the insurgents’ ability to gain and maintain the
support of the population is linked to the particular sociocultural values
that inhere in the belligerents. Retaliation, hospitality, and silence are
examples of these values. The authors argue that these values influence
4 HOW SOCIO-CULTURAL CODES SHAPED VIOLENT MOBILIZATION . . .

the ability of belligerents to succeed in an unconventional military conflict.

These variables do not supplant but do supplement the ideological, orga-
nizational, technical, and economic incentives that a number of existing
studies explore as explanatory variables. To put it another way, this mono-
graph argues that the sociocultural values on the ground have the capacity
to influence the scope and magnitude of violent mobilization and insur-
gent support, which may influence the insurgents’ success or failure. By
analyzing Russia’s two COIN campaigns in the First and Second
Chechnya Wars as empirical case studies, the authors present a novel and
compelling account of the role of sociocultural values within asymmetric
conflict.
To explore the foregoing assertion, this research proceeds to answer
three main research questions. For example, what is asymmetry of values?
And, why is it necessary to distinguish this type of asymmetry from the
other aspects of asymmetry found in existing studies? Lastly and impor-
tantly, how does the asymmetry of values influence the dynamics and
outcome of these conflicts? From this initial assertion and with these
questions, this study narrows the research about asymmetry of values to
the role of sociocultural values on the competitive interaction that ebbs
and flows during the course of an asymmetric conflict. It shows that the
sociocultural values of retaliation, hospitality, and silence may serve as
strong explanatory variables that encourage individual active participation
in the insurgency or help the insurgents gain and sustain popular support
while denying the latter to the adversary.
A significant aspect and implication from this monograph is the notion
that the competitive and violent interaction within conflicts where honor
cultures pertain on the insurgents’ side differ significantly from those con-
flicts that see modern institutionalized societies facing off. The authors
explain that three particular sociocultural codes represent variables that
help mobilization active participation in violence and popular insurgent
support. The first sociocultural code is retaliation and it is typically associated
with the custom of the blood feud. The other two codes are hospitality and
the code of silence. This monograph asserts that these three codes represent
the foundation of asymmetric interaction in the context of conflicts that see
honor cultures fighting institutionalized cultures. For example, while the
code of retaliation helps to mobilize recruits into joining an insurgency, the
code of silence helps ensure non-collaboration and defiance of outsiders in
the form of the government or the external forces. The code of hospitality
ensures the local population will often provide that shelter, material support,
 1 FOREWORD 5

and intelligence to the insurgents, as insiders, notwithstanding the local

populace’s political bent. These codes are absent from modern societies
but remain intrinsic to honor cultures. These three sociocultural codes,
together, can explain local support for insurgent forces in honor cultures.
However, this study does not necessarily assert that an asymmetry of
values can always explain a weaker insurgent’s victory over a stronger
counterinsurgent. There have been cases in the history of irregular wars
wherein the insurgents’ advantage within an honor culture context has
not spared them defeat at the hands of a government or an external
counterinsurgent. To be sure, single cause explanations seldom suffice in
explaining the complexity of irregular war where myriad social, eco-
nomic, military, political, demographic, and cultural factors can shape
final result. While this approach does not necessarily indicate that insur-
gents prevail over counterinsurgents because of the asymmetry of values
uniquely, it does proffer that an asymmetry of values can weigh markedly
on the competitive interaction within these types of conflicts. Ultimately,
though, the potential, scope, and magnitude of mobilization for violent
action (retaliation) and insurgent popular support (hospitality and
silence) are essential for any prospect of success for insurgents in the
context of an honor culture.
This new and commendable research judiciously focuses on these socio-
cultural aspects and illuminates their salience for understanding these
types of wars. The relevance of this work to security scholars and practi-
tioners in the USA and the West is utterly clear and compelling because
the America and its North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies
and other partners represent modern institutionalized societies that have
been fighting against terrorists and insurgents from honor cultures for the
last 15 years and there is no end in sight yet. The likes of Al Qaeda, the
Taliban, ISIS, and other non-state armed groups that animate their fol-
lowers with a virulent and interpretive Islamist creed sustain active and
passive support that are linked to a narrative that to a large degree builds
on the sociocultural codes explored in the monograph. A better under-
standing of these sociocultural values, as salient variables in asymmetric
conflicts, cannot but stand those who read it in better stead.

U.S. Naval War College Col. Robert Cassidy, Ph.D.

Newport, Rhode Iceland Military Professor
6 HOW SOCIO-CULTURAL CODES SHAPED VIOLENT MOBILIZATION . . .

NOTES
1. The term first appears in 1974 in Mack, A. The Concept of Power and Its Uses
in Explaining Asymmetric Conflict. London: Richardson Institute for
Conflict and Peace Research.
2. Based on Mack, A. (1983) ‘Why Big Powers Lose Small Wars: The Politics
of Asymmetric Conflict’ in K. Knorr (ed.) Power, Strategy, and Security: A
World Politics Reader. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, pp. 126–
151. This implies a qualitative and quantitative superiority by empirical
conventional measures of military capabilities, only.
3. These battles witnessed European armies handily and brutally defeating
their non-European adversaries because the latter chose, imprudently, to
fight the former symmetrically. See Churchill, W. S. (1997) The River War.
London: Prion, pp. 191–225 and Bolger, D. P. (1991) ‘The Ghosts of
Omdurman’, Parameters, Autumn, p. 34, for an analysis of the Battle of
Omdurman.
 CHAPTER 2

Introduction

Abstract The introductory chapter presents the key arguments of

the book. It suggests that the blossoming literature on asymmetric
conflict has been published on different forms and aspects of asymmetric
conflicts – largely focusing on the material, physical, and motivational forms
of asymmetry – which have sought to analyze armed encounters waged
from antiquity to nowadays by opponents of disparate organization and
strength. Nevertheless, this literature has failed to take into account the
structural socio-cultural disparities of the belligerents that often shape
conflict outcomes. In addition to providing a critical review of the literature
on asymmetric conflict, this chapter theorizes the phenomenon of asym-
metry of values; explores the concept of honor cultures; and typologizes
retaliation and pro-insurgent support. The concluding part of this chapter
details the data and methods used in the book.

Keywords Asymmetric conflict
Motivational asymmetry
Socio-cultural

codes
Pro-insurgent support
Violent mobilization

Recent decades have witnessed an increasing interest in asymmetric con-

flict.1 A considerable amount of literature has been published on different
forms and aspects of asymmetric conflicts, which have sought to analyze
armed encounters waged from antiquity to nowadays by opponents of

© The Author(s) 2017 7

E.A. Souleimanov, H. Aliyev, How Socio-Cultural Codes Shaped
Violent Mobilization and Pro-Insurgent Support in the Chechen Wars,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-52917-2_2
8 HOW SOCIO-CULTURAL CODES SHAPED VIOLENT MOBILIZATION . . .

disparate organization and strength (Van Baarda and Verweij 2009; Blank
2003; Buffaloe 2006; Caforio 2008; Cassidy 2002; Fischerkeller 1998;
Grange 2000; Gray 2002; Gross 2010; Mack 1975; Metz and Johnson
2001; Paul 1994; Winter 2011; Merom 2003). However, the current
concepts and typologies of asymmetric conflict have largely focused on
material, physical, and motivational forms of asymmetry, while socio-
cultural disparities have been largely ignored. An even more obvious
omission within the existing literature regarding asymmetric conflict has
been the absence thus far of studies regarding the socio-cultural values of
asymmetric belligerents. Therefore, our current knowledge as to the ways
in which the presence, or lack, of differing socio-cultural values affects the
dynamics of asymmetric conflicts is decidedly partial.
This study2 pursues a number of objectives. Firstly, we argue that the
current scholarly treatment of asymmetric conflict fails to offer a sufficient
explanation with regard to the role of the particular socio-cultural values
which are intrinsic to many conflict-affected societies (predominantly) in
the developing world, and which have a demonstrably significant impact
on the course of given asymmetric conflicts, which under certain circum-
stances may affect their outcomes.3 Accordingly, we construct our argu-
ments upon the concept of asymmetry of values, which we introduce
herein. We then emphasize that the ability of belligerents to succeed in
an unconventional military conflict is influenced not only by ideological,
organizational, technical, or economic incentives, which have been
detailed by numerous existing studies. We posit that the insurgents’ ability
to mobilize and ensure popular support – key to success in irregular war –
is also conditioned by the particular socio-cultural values intrinsic to the
belligerents in question, something that has been neglected in the current
scholarship. In other words, we argue that in societies, which we term
‘honorific’, the socio-cultural values on the ground have the capacity to
impact upon the forms of violent mobilization and pro-insurgent support,
which may influence conflict outcomes. Employing Russia’s COIN cam-
paigns in the First and Second Chechnya Wars as an empirical case study,
we present a comprehensive account of the role of socio-cultural values
within asymmetric conflict.
From this initial assumption, we narrow down our discussion on asym-
metry of values to the impact of socio-cultural values on the dynamics of
asymmetric conflicts. We argue that such socio-cultural values as codes of
retaliation, silence, and hospitality, may serve as mechanisms, encouraging
individual violent engagement in insurgency or popular support to
 2 INTRODUCTION 9

honorific insurgents – while denying these to institutionalized incumbents.

With this in mind, this research seeks to address the following questions:
What is asymmetry of values? Why is it important to differentiate this type
of asymmetry from other typologies of asymmetric conflict? How does the
asymmetry of values affect the dynamics of a given conflict?
Secondly, we propose that the dynamics of asymmetric conflicts in
honor cultures differ significantly from those common to modern institu-
tionalized cultures. That said, we argue that three specific socio-cultural
codes constitute mechanisms of violent mobilization and pro-insurgent
support; these codes are absent from modern societies, but remain intrin-
sic to honorific societies. These socio-cultural codes include ‘retaliation’ –
which is usually embedded within the custom of blood feud. The other
two codes are ‘hospitality’ and the ‘code of silence’. We argue that these
three codes constitute the basis of asymmetric relations as regards conflicts
that involve honor and institutionalized cultures.4 Specifically, while the
code of retaliation helps to mobilize recruits into joining a given insur-
gency often irrespective of political views, the code of silence ensures the
non-collaboration with, and defiance of, outsiders in the form of incum-
bent forces. For its part, the code of hospitality ensures that shelter,
material support, and often intelligence are provided by the local populace
to insurgents largely irrespective of the local populations’ political views.
Taken together, these three socio-cultural codes form an effective
mechanism of local support to insurgent forces, shaping the dynamics of
asymmetric conflict.
These socio-cultural codes are at the core of what we term the asym-
metry of values, a distinct form of asymmetry which can be observed in
most present-day conflicts between honorific societies,5 and their more
technologically and organizationally advanced adversaries who hail from
institutionalized societies. Although the existence of many insurgencies
hinges upon the proper functioning of these three mechanisms in order to
ensure that recruitment, material support, shelter, and intelligence is
provided by the local populace to insurgent groups, the existing scholar-
ship has so far failed to address these mechanisms from a socio-anthro-
pological perspective.
Of course, we do not purport that the asymmetry of values is auto-
matically conducive to a weaker honorific insurgent’s victory over a stron-
ger institutionalized incumbent. There have been cases in the history of
irregular wars, in which an honorific insurgents’ advantage in terms of the
asymmetry of values have not spared them defeat at the hands of an
10 HOW SOCIO-CULTURAL CODES SHAPED VIOLENT MOBILIZATION . . .

institutionalized incumbent. In fact, monocausal explanations rarely hold

in complex situations of civil and irregular war, where a myriad of social,
economic, military, political, demographic, and personal factors shape
final outcomes. Yet while we acknowledge that our theory does not
necessarily indicate that insurgents prevail over incumbents, we do con-
tend that asymmetry of values has an effect on the dynamics of conflict.
After all, as stated above, violent mobilization and pro-insurgent support
are critical for any insurgency’s success and failure.

ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY

From here on, we proceed as follows. The following chapter presents the
concept of asymmetry of values; it strives to develop a novel theoretical
framework that integrates socio-cultural values as an explanatory variable
in shaping the dynamics of asymmetric conflicts. It describes that an
asymmetry of values is based upon the functioning of specific socio-
cultural codes existent in the honorific societies and absent in post-modern
institutionalized societies. Therefore, this chapter is followed by a nuanced
analysis of what honor cultures are and how they are distinguished from
other types of cultures. In the following chapter, we place asymmetry of
values-related socio-cultural codes into current typologies of violent mobi-
lization and pro-insurgent support, which helps to locate our study against
the general background of existing scholarship. These theoretical and
conceptual chapters are followed by an introduction to our case study of
the recent armed conflicts in Chechnya. An ethnographic account, neces-
sary to understanding Chechnya’s social and socio-cultural milieu, is
followed by a chapter introducing the ongoing insurgency in that North
Caucasian Republic. A brief chronology of the Chechen Wars analyzes the
main cornerstones of the asymmetric conflict as it journeys through the
post-communist history of Chechnya to the present-day. Next, we present
our empirical findings on the impact of three explored socio-cultural codes
on the violent mobilization and pro-insurgent support in the Chechnya
insurgency. The qualitative analysis of the ethnographic fieldwork con-
ducted for this study engages with the nuances of how codes of retaliation,
hospitality, and silence function in Chechnya, creating what we term the
asymmetry of values. These empirical sections are complemented by a brief
examination of alternative explanations of the causes for violent mobiliza-
tion. Next, a discussion on the limitations and strengths of this study is
offered.
 2 INTRODUCTION 11

ASYMMETRY OF VALUES: TOWARD CONCEPT BUILDING

The end of the Cold War and the start of the ‘War on Terror’ resulted both
in an expansion of the already voluminous literature regarding asymmetric
conflict, and in a proliferation of studies dealing with various aspects of
asymmetric conflict. Over the past few decades, the classic definition of
asymmetric war as ‘a conflict involving two states with unequal overall
military and economic power resources’ (Paul 1994, p. 20) has been
transformed so as to encompass various types and forms of asymmetric
relationships between state and non-state actors.6
The dominant strand of literature on asymmetric conflict has to date
focused on the disparities between the physical and material assets of
belligerents. As such it has prioritized such aspects of asymmetry as mili-
tary power, strategy, as well as the political and economic assets of the
warring sides.7 If earlier studies on asymmetry have primarily sought to
emphasize the roles played by military power and technological super-
iority, more recent research has concentrated more on the strategic aspects
of violent mobilization (Mack 1975). Indeed, the central role of military
strategy within the existing research on asymmetric conflicts has been
reiterated by a large and growing number of studies on political violence
that have focused on such topics as insurgency, ethnic conflicts, civil wars,
and terrorism (Gray 2002; Grange 2000; Caforio 2008).
Another central aspect of the existing literature on asymmetric conflict
has been the study of the non-material categories of asymmetry. Among the
first attempts to investigate the non-material types of asymmetry was a
pioneering study by Mack (1975), who introduced ‘will’-based incentives
of conflict participants. According to Mack’s (1975, p. 195) theory, ‘victory
for the insurgents could only come about as a consequence of the destruc-
tion of the external power’s political capacity [or will] to wage war’.
Subsequently, the COIN campaigns of the 1990s, and the counterterrorism
operations in the aftermath of 9/11, had the effect of introducing a new
range of classifications regarding asymmetric relations within conflicts. For
instance, Fischerkeller (1998) offers a comprehensive account of the cul-
tural perceptions of political powers, which he terms ‘cultural asymmetry’.
Fischerkeller presents his concept of cultural asymmetry as being embodied
within the cultural judgments of political powers involved in international
politics.8 Metz and Johnson (2001), meanwhile, have introduced the con-
cept of ‘normative asymmetry’, a term which embraces both the legal and
ethical aspects of the asymmetrical relationships between respective parties
12 HOW SOCIO-CULTURAL CODES SHAPED VIOLENT MOBILIZATION . . .

to a given conflict. Of particular interest with regard to research on non-

material types of asymmetry have been studies by Cassidy (2002), who
discusses the ‘asymmetry of will’; and by Merom (2003), who introduces
such terms as ‘balance of will’ and ‘motivational asymmetry’. Buffaloe
(2006) lists numerous forms of non-strategic asymmetries; these include
cultural asymmetry, asymmetry of values, of norms, of rules, and of infor-
mation. More recently studies have begun to emerge which present a
rigorous examination of the moral dimensions of asymmetric conflicts:
studies such as that by Van Baarda and Verweij (2009), as well as studies
by Gross (2010), and by Winter (2011). Gross, for instance, differentiates
between the legal and moral dimensions of asymmetric conflict; while Van
Baarda and Verweij (2009) have emphasized the moral values and percep-
tions of belligerents.
Although the role of norms and values in military effectiveness has been
discussed in works of Pollack (1996), Farrell (2005), and Fitzsimmons
(2009), the existing literature has, however, failed to comprehend the
socio-cultural asymmetry of belligerents from a socio-anthropological
perspective. The (im)balance of values between belligerents has been
presented in a variety of forms, often under the rubric of cultural asym-
metry (Cassidy 2002). The concept of cultural asymmetry, – which, in
Buffaloe’s (2006, p. 22) words, is ‘one of the hardest concepts to grasp’–
has previously been applied to such forms of asymmetry as the respect for,
or lack of, democratic values (Van Baarda and Verweij 2009); to aspects of
military culture (Cassidy 2002); and to differences in political culture
(Fischerkeller 1998). However, specific socio-cultural values, such as the
codes of honor and retaliation, which are widespread throughout many
tribal and clan-based societies within the developing world, have thus far
escaped proper classification within the extant scholarship on asymmetric
conflict. Buffaloe (2006, pp. 22–23), for instance, presents asymmetry of
values as a sub-concept of cultural asymmetry, and conceptualizes it
primarily in terms of adversaries’ respective ideological values, such as
religious and political values (Western world vs. Muslim world).
This study argues that socio-cultural values, represented by socio-cultural
codes, serve as mechanisms encouraging violent mobilization and pro-
insurgent support, and sometimes account for the lack of effectiveness of
Western-led COINs or other forms of military campaigns within such
conflict sites as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, or the Northeast
Caucasus. Kilcullen (2009, p. 39) quotes one of his informants in
Afghanistan: ‘[n]inety per cent of people you call “Taliban” are actually
 2 INTRODUCTION 13

tribals. They are fighting for loyalty of Pashtun honor’. The centrality of
the traditional Pashtun honor-based socio-cultural values – pashtunwali –
to the recent Afghan conflicts has been reiterated by a number of
policy reports and academic studies (Miakhel 2009; Mahdi 1986;
Dorronsoro and Lobato 1989).
As with the Afghan socio-cultural values, honor-based values have been
emphasized as constituting important conflict escalation mechanisms in
contemporary Iraq. For instance, in the words of Kilcullen’s (Kilcullen
2009, p. 167) informant in Iraq, the role of socio-cultural values among
Sunni tribes is fundamental, because if ‘a member of one clan or tribe kills
another. This creates a fight between tribes. The tribe that is wronged
must take revenge [tha’r], unless the dispute is resolved by paying the
blood-price [diya]’. From Somalia’s honor-based social contract [xeer]
(Mohamed 2007), to Albanian9 and Colombian (Waldmann 2001)
honor and revenge-centered socio-cultural values, codes of honor and
revenge are similarly important among many other ethnic groups in
different parts of the world (Boehm 2011; Boyle 2010; Landes 2007;
Simon 2012). Yet, although such socio-cultural values have occasionally
been mentioned in previous studies of asymmetric conflicts, the literature
to date has failed to either adequately conceptualize this phenomenon, or
to present empirical evidence in its support.
Two strands of literature have so far attempted to incorporate different
aspects of these socio-cultural values into research on asymmetric conflicts.
Firstly, a relatively small, but burgeoning literature on post-heroic warfare
discusses differences between both strategic and value-based approaches to
conflicts in heroic and post-heroic societies. In accordance with the theory
of post-heroic warfare, the very notion of honor, and the willingness to
accept self-sacrifice for the sake of a noble goal, resonate as being quite old-
fashioned within the context of contemporary post-modern western socie-
ties (Luttwak 1995; Avi 2015). However, the theorists of post-heroic
conflicts have thus far avoided engaging with the analysis of socio-cultural
values particular to different societies, and have instead sought to concep-
tualize the notion of post-heroic warfare by either describing it in strictly
military terms (Avi 2015), or by embedding it within broader discourses
concerning international relations (Luttwak 1995).
The second strand of this recent scholarly literature has increasingly
employed the notion of values – albeit often interchangeably with the
concept of asymmetry of culture – within the debates on the ‘hearts and
minds’ strategy, and on population-centrist COIN campaigns (Cassidy
14 HOW SOCIO-CULTURAL CODES SHAPED VIOLENT MOBILIZATION . . .

2008). Yet, embedded within the discourse on military strategy – and unlike
this study – these discussions have placed no emphasis on the role of socio-
cultural values considered as distinct socio-anthropological phenomena.
This being the case, this present study suggests conceptualizing socio-
cultural values – and encapsulated in that concept, value-based socio-
cultural codes – as asymmetry of values. In contrast to the existing research
on asymmetric conflicts, which regards values as ideologies (Van Baarda
and Verweij 2009), we understand values primarily in socio-anthropologi-
cal terms, as part of the socio-cultural context of those societies that are
engaged in asymmetric conflict. Accordingly, we suggest treating asymme-
try of values as a concept independent from ideological asymmetry. Unlike
ideological asymmetry, the asymmetry of values, first of all, demonstrates
the differences in the socio-cultural values of belligerents, thereby allowing
for higher levels of individual mobilization, motivation, and participation
in conflicts among societies with well-developed and deeply entrenched
honor-based and revenge-centered socio-cultural values (Aliyev 2015).
Specifically, we argue that in contrast to post-modern societies, societies,
which to various degrees adhere to notions of honor and retaliation – as
seen from the examples of Afghanistan, Chechnya, Somalia, Iraq, and
Yemen – display unique patterns of individual violent mobilization and
pro-insurgent support within asymmetric conflict.
This is not to say, however, that ideological values, such as political or
religious motivations, are less important as sources of mobilization or
sustained violent participation within conflicts. In fact, in numerous con-
flicts around the world, ideological values become entangled with socio-
cultural values, as we illustrate hereinafter in the section on alternative
explanations.10 What we do suggest is that, due to the lack of existing
research on the significance of socio-cultural values, and embedded in
them codes, and due to their inextricable importance for particular societies,
such socio-cultural codes as traditions of retaliation serve as mechanisms of
violent mobilization and pro-insurgent support.11 In this regard, our study
provides a novel insight into the micro-level of asymmetric conflict, as it
explores the incentives for individual violent mobilization, as encouraged by
the code of retaliation, and as it investigates the support mechanisms for
insurgents, determined by the codes of silence and hospitality.
In contrast to the asymmetry of motivations that ‘derives from what is at
stake for the parties to a conflict, or from their relative interests’ (Merom
2003, p. 11), the asymmetry of values is firmly embedded within a society’s
socio-cultural values. Hence, in practice, it is more permanent and stable
 2 INTRODUCTION 15

than the asymmetry of motivations; accordingly, it is more resilient to

exogenous pressures.12 In line with motivational logic, weaker belligerents
are more likely to have higher interests at stake and, therefore, to have
higher motivations to win. Yet, as shown by Merom (2003, pp. 13–14),
the actual historical record of insurgencies succeeding in their struggles
against powerful enemies is limited. Merom (2003, p. 13) admits that
motivational asymmetry is a rather inconsistent variable, because ‘motiva-
tion is usually embedded in the particular context’. Although the asym-
metry of values is also often context-bound, by contrast to motivational
asymmetry, it is far more static than ever-shifting individual or group
motivations based upon political ideology and economic interest. Unlike
motivations delineated this way, socio-cultural codes, which lie at the core
of asymmetry of values, are firmly embedded in honorific societies.13
Also, in contrast to Mack’s (1975) depiction of motivational asym-
metry as centered around combatants’ commitment to protecting their
families and households, asymmetry of value is based not so much on the
need to defend one’s country as on the profound moral obligation,
fueled and sustained by public opinion, to protect and preserve indivi-
dual, family, or clan honor and other honor-centered values. Because, as
Mack (1975, p. 181) has notoriously asserted, ‘the metropolitan power
poses not simply the threat of invasion, but the reality of occupation’
honor-based mobilization differs from essentially rational forms of moti-
vation, such as insurgents’ motivation to defend their countries, homes,
and families against the threat of reprisals. To begin with, particularly as
seen from a purely economic perspective, honor-based mobilization may
take on seemingly irrational forms. This means that, as embedded within
socio-cultural values, the honor-based obligation for retaliation mobi-
lizes individuals regardless of the immediate need to defend their families
or homes. As this study illustrates, although keeping a low profile would
be a better survival strategy, individuals have often consciously chosen to
retaliate or provide support to insurgents, therefore placing in jeopardy
not only their own lives but also the lives of their relatives, as a result of
incumbent retribution. Importantly, in this context, individuals’ ideolo-
gical or economic considerations become of secondary importance.
Rather, the urge for retaliation, the obligation to observe the code of
silence, and the duty to shelter and support insiders may come to the
fore. Therefore, such impulses are likely to serve as stronger and more
persistent mechanisms than either ideology and politics-centered, or
personal cost and benefit-based motivations.14
16 HOW SOCIO-CULTURAL CODES SHAPED VIOLENT MOBILIZATION . . .

SOCIO-CULTURAL VALUES: HONOR CULTURES

We construe our understanding of socio-cultural values, as based on the
socio-anthropological distinctions introduced by Nisbett and Cohen
(1996), as existing between honor cultures, and institutionalized cul-
tures.15 As described by Sommers (Sommers 2009, p. 38), honor cultures
are typical of societies that are organized into ‘tight-knit groups’, such as
kinship, clan, or tribe-centered societies. Within honor cultures,16 ‘honor
is not merely a self-defense concern: It suffuses all relations’ (Nisbett and
Cohen 1996, p. 16). Unlike institutionalized cultures, where justice is
dispensed through courts, trials, and prisons, in honor cultures various
forms of direct retribution – including blood revenge and retaliatory raids
– are regarded as the only truly acceptable (and often also the only avail-
able) forms of justice. Blumenfeld (2002, p. 72) for example, explains that
for Albanians, prison, as against direct retaliation, is seen as ‘nothing more
than a delay [ . . . ] Prison isn’t satisfying for the family’.
Honor cultures thrive in societies where ‘[t]here is little or no protection
from the State’, hence ‘[n]orms about honor are extremely well suited to
motivate the appropriate type of retributive behavior’ (Sommers 2009,
p. 39). Shackelford (2005, p. 381) explains that ‘[a] key element of cultures
of honor is that men in these cultures are prepared to protect with violence
the reputation for strength and toughness’. Similarly, Nisbett and Cohen
(1996, p. 4).point out that the notion of honor within honor societies
‘differs from other cultures in that its members are prepared to fight or
even to kill to defend their reputations as honorable men’.
Honor cultures, heavily reliant upon notions of honor and revenge,
are known to have flourished not only in pre-industrial and pre-modern
societies across both Europe (Spirenburg 1998) and Asia (Ikegami
1995) but also in nineteenth century Corsica (Gould 2000), southern
Italy (Bell 2009), early twentieth century southern USA (Nisbett and
Cohen 1996), as well as throughout south-eastern Europe (Boehm
1984). While the spread of industrialization, modernization, and urba-
nization has driven the frontiers of some honor cultures into geographi-
cally isolated areas of the world, other honor cultures have resisted such
pressures. In fact, most of the ethnographic analysis conducted on honor
cultures to date concedes that, as a rule, it is upheld by those (sub)ethnic
communities which have either remained isolated from modernization
(Chagnon 1998) or experienced continuous lack of central state govern-
ance (Nivette 2011). From the highlands of Colombia and Albania
 2 INTRODUCTION 17

(Waldmann 2001), to Palestine (Alvanou 2008), Afghanistan, the tribal

areas of Pakistan (Mahdi 1986), Chechnya (Souleimanov 2007, 2011),
Yemen (Morris and Trammell 2011), and Somalia (Mohamed 2007),
those honor cultures that are understood to employ honorific socio-
cultural codes thrive in social environments that are deprived of effective
institutional control and central authority, and which are often afflicted
by violent armed conflicts. Notions of individual, family, or clan honor
and revenge, largely eroded among honor cultures still existing in
Western nations, continue to constitute an essential component of
honor cultures in places such as Afghanistan, Somalia, and Chechnya.
For example, according to the Pakhtun customary law, revenge [badal],
and in particular ‘revenge killing’, is ‘the cornerstone of Pukhtunwali
[customary legal codes]’ (Mahdi 1986, p. 150). In present-day Somalia,
‘the most common cause of war . . . is revenge’ (Mohamed 2007, p. 239).
As Boyle (2010, p. 193) describes, in Albania ‘[t]ribal codes of honour
are often designed to recognize the social function of revenge’. Similarly,
the notions of honor and revenge are equally important among the
Chechens and Ingush: as the Chechen saying goes: ‘[a] wound by the
dagger can be cured by a doctor, but a wound by words can be cured
only by the dagger’ (Avtorkhanov 1992, p. 169). Similar codes of honor
and revenge have been observed in Yemen, described in a study by
Morris and Trammell, and in the Bedouin societies of North Africa, in
Abu-Lughod’s (1985) research.
It goes without saying that these codes also apply in the context of
locally fought COIN campaigns. For instance, Kilcullen (2009) has shown
in the cases of Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan and Sunni insurgents in
Iraq that the significant percentage of their involvement in those wars has
not been caused by religious fervor. Rather, these insurgents are often
tribesmen who have fought for the sake of individual and tribal honor,
driven into insurgencies by the need to retaliate on COIN forces for their
relatives killed as a result of collateral damage in air raids, drone strikes,
and so on. According to Kilcullen (2009, p. 85), ‘[r]eligious extremism
and support for the old Taliban regime are rarer motivations, according to
Afghan intelligence officers and local officials with whom I discussed this;
desire for revenge (badal) and anger arising from the loss of relatives in the
fighting or from killing of bystanders and destruction of property through
“collateral damage” are more common.’ Most recently, following the
accidental death of six civilians as the result of a failed American hostage-
rescuing operation in Yemen in December 2014, three dozen male
18 HOW SOCIO-CULTURAL CODES SHAPED VIOLENT MOBILIZATION . . .

members of the slain civilians’ tribe reportedly joined Al Qaeda to seek

retaliation – and restore their tribe’s honor (ČTK 2014).
It would be erroneous, however, to lump all honor cultures
together. Considerable differences exist among such societies in terms
of their socio-cultural, religious, and organizational structures.
Although it was argued by Nisbett and Cohen (1996) that retaliatory
violence is specific to honor cultures, in particular to herding societies,
Boehm (2011) has shown that the custom of blood revenge was also
thriving among hunters-gatherers and even pre-historic farming socie-
ties. For instance, honor cultures are still known to exist among com-
munities in southern USA, as well as in the south of Italy (Gould
2000). Intriguingly, honor cultures – or rather the ethos of male
honor – have survived in one way or another in a number of organized
crime groups worldwide.17 What is more important, however, is the
degree to which a society has an honor code and how the functioning
of that code plays out, particularly on the community level. This means
that although honor cultures are many, not all of them actually con-
tinue practicing the traditional honor-based codes. Accordingly, not all
honor cultures are equal in shaping the dynamics of asymmetric conflict
to the same extent.
For the purpose of this study, we focus on honor cultures that are
organized along the static lines of blood kinship. In honor cultures, indi-
viduals conceive of themselves and are conceived of by outsiders not as
atomized individuals per se, but primarily as members of a patrilineally
delineated in-group: clan or tribe. Such groups claim common ancestry, are
often marked by some form of age-based social hierarchy,18 and are char-
acterized by a developed sense of belonging. Our delimitation of honor
culture also involves the three basic socio-cultural codes that we detail in
this study: the code of retaliation, which draws upon the custom of blood
feud, and the honor-imposed codes of hospitality and silence. To summar-
ize then, for the purposes of this research, we consider the existence of clan
and tribal social organization, together with the persistence of the highly
valued and consistently practiced codes of retaliation, hospitality, and
silence, as necessary prerequisites for a society to be considered honorific.
The concept of honor is irrevocably connected to the notion of retalia-
tion. Hence, ‘[a] key aspect of honor culture is the importance placed the
necessity to respond to an insult’ (Nisbett and Cohen 1996, p. 5). For
societies as varied as Pakhtuns, Albanians, and Chechens, the principle of
retaliation, as defined by the socially enshrined obligation to avenge
Another random document with
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 Head 15 Dense97
Raise20up Luxuriant
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Compassion
22 Regular
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Front25hair Stupefy
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Numerical
27 base Cause
102 destruction
Yellowish
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Menial
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Cold33 Halo
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Pipe34 Boss
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Object
36 of devotion Handle
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Body37of water Common
115 tree
Composition
38 Biblical
117 character
Wide-mouthed
39 jug Entrance
119
Barter
40 Circuit
121 breaker
Native
42 Duty
123
Defect
43 Against
125
Affected
44 Entrance
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Large45quantity Muscular
128 spasm
Indentation
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Chemical
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Kind52of cigar Soon
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Unit 57
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136 on
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[123]
[Contents]
Puzzle No. 50
 OF SOMEWHAT ORIENTAL FLAVOR
By Gregorian

An excellent construction, admirable chiefly for the

entire absence of two-letter words and for the central
interlock. As for the words—go ahead and see for
yourself.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
15 16 17 18
19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29
30 31 32 33 34
35 36 37 38 39
40 41 42 43 44 45 46
47 48 49 50 51 52
53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61
62 63 64
65 66 67 68 69
70 71 72 73 74
75 76 77 78 79 80 81
82 83 84 85 86 87 88
89 90 91 92 93
94 95 96 97 98 99
100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107
108 109 110
111 112 113
[122]

HORIZONTAL

Pertaining
1 to an Heroine
64 in Spencer
Oceanic race Seize65
Mohammedanism
6 Proceed
67
A modern
10 form of Ties 68
assembly Place70
Prevent
15 Run 72
(Scotch)
Cymbals
17 used by Labor73
Hindu dancers Fright
75
Mountain
18 Lions Defeats
77
Thoroughfares
19 Requested
79
Ovum 21 Beverage
82
Put back
22 Therefore
83
Child24 Civil85
offense
Beverage
25 Vigor87
Past27 Fast89
Toss29 Pedal90prints
Chemical
30 radical Opera93 singer
Shoed31 Piece94
Cake34 Metallic
96 rock
Illumined
35 Due 97
Additions
36 Negative
99
Poet37 Angered
100
X 39 Present
103
South40American Survivors
105
Animal Curtain
108
Worried
42 Star
109
Hoarder
45 Scient
110
Unfasten
48 One111who seasons
Be ill50 Concise
112
Preposition
51 Vomiting
113
 Frosting
53
Dispraise
56
Undo 59
Boy 62
City 63
in Chile

VERTICAL

Pertaining
1 to mail Animal
52
Shakespearian
2 Vehicle
54
character Mountain
55 in Greece
Utilize3 Uncle57(S. Africa)
Egyptian
4 god Entangle
58
Negative
5 Wine60cask
Oblique7 Dark61fluid
Linger8 Spring
66
Sea Life
9 Tribe69
Beg 10 Slave71
Siberian
11 city Paddles
74
A container
12 Killed
75
Seclude
13 Middle
76
Pertaining
14 to a Lout77
Grecian city Cooked
78 mixture
Chant 16 Shows80
Preface
18 Golf 81
Term
Understood
20 Head 82nun
Clother
23 Merchandise
84
Italian
26woman’s Musical
86 form
Grotto28 name Chateaus
88
Mathematical
31 term Strained
91
Asceticisms
32 Cities
92
Condemn
33 Giant95
Chinese
36 city Hit 98
 Follower
38 of ceremony Skill
101
Word41play Bodily
102organ
Trumpet
43 call Pronoun
104
Graceful
44 Female
106 sheep
Descendant
46 Anger
107
Lowest
47 point in a ship
Musical
49 composition
Attack
51

[125]
[Contents]

WORD PUZZLERS
Have the Best Opportunity to a Correct Solution
When Equipped With

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 Table of Contents

THE CROSS WORD PUZZLE 5

CONFESSIONS OF A CROSS WORD PUZZLE
EDITOR 7
HOW TO SOLVE THEM 11
THE SCIENCE AND LORE OF CROSS WORD
PUZZLES 18
DO’S AND DON’T’S FOR SOLVERS 23
1. A SOFT BEGINNING 25
2. TRY AND DO IT 27
3. A SIMPLICITY 29
4. TETRACRUCIFORM 31
5. WELL BALANCED 33
6. BABY GRAND MODEL 35
7. A FOUR PETALED ROSE 37
8. A SPOTTED BORDER 39
9. A CHECKERED CAREER 41
10. SMALL BUT NEAT 43
11. KEYS AND CROSSES 45
12. A BLACK BEAUTY 47
13. A GRAND OLD PUZZLE 49
14. A QUADRIPUNTAL ASTEROID 51
15. A QUADRUPLEX QUIDDITY 53
16. A WELL-TIED SAILOR’S KNOT 55
17. A TESSELATED TANGLE 57
18. HOT CROSS BUNS 59
19. STEPPING STONES 61
20. FIVE GREEK CROSSES 63
21. FOUR LEAF CLOVER 65
22. AT THE CROSSROADS 67
23. CROSSWORD VALENTINE 69
24. EIGHTEEN KARAT 71
25. HONEYMOON HOKUM 73
26. FOR THE ZIGZAG ZEALOT 75
27. THIS TAKES THE CAKE 77
28. A JERSEY ’SKEETER 79
29. UNLUCKY 81
30. SINGLE SPOTTER 83
31. A PRIZE PACKAGE 85
32. HIC LABOR HIC OPUS EST 87
33. A SERRATE SYZYGY 89
34. FIVE SPOTS AND RAYS 91
35. A SLOTTED OBLONG 93
36. AN HOUR GLASS 95
37. DECORATION 97
38. BLACK BEETLE 99
39. FACILE EST DECENSUS AVERNI 101
40. 99​9⁄10 PER CENT PURE 103
41. A WEST POINTER 105
42. A CENTRAL SWASTIKA 107
43. NOT SO BLACK AS PAINTED 109
44. FINE AND DANDY 111
45. A LINGUAL LABYRINTH 113
46. A HUNDRED PER CENTER 115
47. CRANK HER UP 117
48. A VOCABULARY TESTER 119
49. IN WORDS OF ONE SYLLABLE 121
50. OF SOMEWHAT ORIENTAL FLAVOR 123
 Colophon

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Title: The cross

word puzzle
book: first
series
Author: Prosper Info
Buranelli https://viaf.org/viaf/41419344/
(1890–1960)
Author: Frederic Info
Gregory https://viaf.org/viaf/6288249/
Hartswick
(1891–)
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distance
5 world word 1
20 Ιχθγε Ιχθυς 2
20 Kristos Christos 2
20 Ιησομς Ἰησοῦς
Χριστος Θεοῖ Χριστὸς Θεοῦ
Υιος Σῷτηρ Υἱὸς Σῷτήρ 7/2
36 Quapruped Quadruped 1
42, 52,
102,
122,
122,
122,
122 . [Deleted] 1
47 whose who 2
52 Tympanun Tympanum 1
60 92 29 2
76 H2O H2O 0
92 Receptable Receptacle 1
101,
101 Cerebus Cerberus 2
112 Portugese Portuguese 1
116 travellers travelers 1
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