The notion of structural imperative: An alternative conceptual instrument for mixed-method studies on guerrilla organizations

The extensive literature on guerrilla organizations can roughly be divided into two clusters. On the one hand there are qualitative studies that examine either one organization in particular or a small number of guerrilla organizations. One the other hand there are publications focusing on the tactics and the strategy of guerrilla warfare. Studies of the former type give reasons for the observable behavior of specific guerrilla organizations (and usually involve a description of their internal dynamics), while studies of the latter type exhibit the constraints and options that each guerrilla organization in a certain environment faces. In the course of my presentation I will show how these two levels of analysis may be connected theoretically and methodologically by employing the concept of structural imperative.

At the outset I give a brief definition of the concept by drawing on Immanuel Kant's notion of hypothetical imperative. In this first part of my presentation it will become clear that a structural imperative basically is a marker that signalizes the effectiveness of social forces pushing a certain type of actor towards a specific course of action. Subsequently I deliver an account of the characteristic social constellation of guerrilla war, primarily for the purpose of naming the structural imperatives applying to guerrilla organizations in general.

In the second part of my presentation I demonstrate how these structural imperatives may be used as a point of reference facilitating the description and comparison of particular guerrilla organizations. I do so by using contemporary Colombian insurgencies as illustrative material. After that I will recapitulate my findings in order to point out in which way the concept of structural imperative serves as a link between the aforementioned paradigms of research on guerrilla organizations.