I've been pretty quiet lately in part because I'm way too busy to write posts I think would be worth reading.
But re: what's going on in France, Denmark and elsewhere right now, I highly recommend this paper from the Army War College: Street Gangs: the New Urban Insurgency.
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Robin,
Good pointer. In addition, I think folks should check out Networks and Netwar, which was written in 2001 (not as recent as Street Gangs). The study was led by Arquilla and Ronfeldt of RAND; Arquilla is very well known for his studies in this area.
Reading at least the summary would give added context before diving in to "Street Gangs", esp. since the Street Gangs' case studies invovlved are a little too limited to the Americas. "Networks and Netwar" coverage spans from English hooligans to Seattle Riots/Flash Mobs to terrorist organizations.
Side Note: I've done my own analysis of the Paris Riots within the lense of Networks and Netwar here: Paris Riots: Welcome to Netwar?
Cheers
Yes, the netwar analysis underlies Manwaring's study. There's a whole body of analysis along these lines from the last 10 yrs or so.
Didn't have time to summarize it all, but wanted to call peoples' attention to the idea of gang activity morphing into insurgency -- and specifically to the role that Sarkozy's confrontation against drug trafficking etc. in the banlieus played in the timing of this violence.
The gangs may be made up of Muslims and their grievances may be exploited by Islamacists, but I suspect that the immediate flashpoint has more to do with cops taking on urban gangs who have been allowed to claim and hold way too much territory and power.