Book review: adapting to win: how insurgents fight and defeat foreign states in war by Noriyuki Katagiri

The early 21st century has been characterized by the rise of irregular forces in warfare, most recently in countries such as Iraq, Syria and Nigeria. In Adapting to Win: How Insurgents Fight and Defeat Foreign States in War, Noriyuki Katagiri looks at the evolution of irregular forces and how they adapt and learn to succeed within the conditions of their conflict. Kenneth Martin finds that while the book presents some excellent ideas, it ignores the complexity of irregular warfare, and has too narrow an understanding of what constitutes victory in these types of conflicts, presenting them as a sequential ‘board game’ with a clearly defined winner and loser.