Maoist hybridity? A comparative analysis of the links between insurgent strategic practice and tactical hybridity in contemporary non-state armed groups

While the recent literature on hybrid warfare has focused overwhelmingly on Russia, military tactical hybridity among non-state actors has received less attention, and minimal comparative examination. This is surprising as the range of non-state actors successfully using hybridized irregular-conventional tactics (increasingly symmetrically) against states has grown. Examining this phenomenon comparatively in three divergent cases (Islamic State, Boko Haram, the Houthi Movement), this article tests an often-overlooked argument stating that military hybridity among non-state actors is a result of these groups’ common adoption of a specific form of Maoist-style warfare strategy – emulative insurgency.