Understanding Insurgency

Francis O'Connor is a Research Associate at the Centre on Social Movement Studies (COSMOS), at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Florence, Italy, where he focuses on contentious politics and civil wars, covering subjects including anti-austerity protests, Nationalism and referendums, and armed conflicts in Colombia and Turkey. He is the co-author of books including Social Movements and Referendums from Below (2017), and Late Neoliberalism and Its Discontents in the Economic Crisis: Comparing Social Movements in the European Periphery (2016).

'Francis O'Connor's clearly argued and deeply grounded book provides a comprehensive overview of the PKK and its support networks, merging a meticulous empirical overview of the Kurdish awakening and struggle with theoretical frameworks drawn from social movements and political violence literature. His work offers an original and informative source for understanding the mobilisation dynamics of an armed group and the urban and rural dynamics of an enduring conflict from a socio-spatial perspective. An analytically acute, beautifully written and timely book.' Bahar Baser, University of Coventry

• Introduction; 1. Kurdistan in twentieth-century Turkey; 2. Theories of insurgent support; 3. PKK pre-conflict mobilisation (1974–1984); 4. PKK and rural insurgency; 5. PKK insurgency and the city; 6. The PKK in western Turkey; 7. Conclusion.