# Irregular Warfare
**Entity class:** Military and security concept
## Definition
**Irregular warfare** is a form of struggle among state and non-state actors for influence and legitimacy over relevant populations. It uses combinations of political, informational, military, economic, financial, intelligence, and law-enforcement activity rather than depending only on conventional force.
## Relevance to this collection
It connects [[wiki/Insurgency|Insurgency]], [[wiki/Terrorism|Terrorism]], [[wiki/Information Operations|Information Operations]], and [[wiki/Network-Centric Conflict|Network-Centric Conflict]].
## Relationships
- **master collection:** [[collections/Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and the Intelligence Environment|Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and the Intelligence Environment]].
## Sources / Provenance
- [U.S. Department of Defense, *Irregular Warfare Center Vision and Strategy*, 2023](https://irregularwarfarecenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/IWC-Vision-and-Strategy.pdf).
**As of:** 2026-09-23