After World War II, many states gained their independence as colonial powers relinquished their hold on countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Some newly independent states were rife with internal conflict based on issues such as ethnicity, and ideology. Local conflict in less developed countries occurred at a rate of one or two new outbreaks each year. At this time the United States identified 70 disagreements that had the potential to escalate to full-on conflict. The Philippines represented one such case in which hostilities between the Liberal Party and the Communist front Democratic Alliance.
This report examines the Philippine case of local conflict in the Far East in order to provide new insights regarding measures relevant to the reduction of intensity of conflict and pre-conflict situations in less-developed countries.
“Given the preceding background and lack of the measures suggested or other adequate ones, it was nearly impossible to prevent serious hostilities, since minor outbreaks and at least banditry were endemic. That being the case, much stronger measures prior to and following Philippine Independence to train and equip adequate internal security forces and to appreciate the situation facing them might have at least delayed hostilities if not eliminated the roots of them.” (p 50)
This report was released to the Nautilus Institute under the US Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).