For over a decade, operations associated with irregular warfare have placed large demands on U.S. ground forces and have led to development of new Army and Joint doctrine. This report helps analysts identify and assess twelve key factors that create and perpetuate environments susceptible to insurgency, terrorism, and other extremist violence and instability to inform military decisions on allocation of analytic and security assistance resources.

Introduction -- Gaining Insights into Unstable, Conflict-Prone Environments Through Social Science Lenses -- Factors Associated with Environments Vulnerable to Conflict -- Relationships Among Factors: Peru and Nepal Case Studies -- Utilizing the Factors for Analysis -- Conclusion -- Appendix A: Factors from Joint and Army Doctrine -- Appendix A: Factor Matrix -- Appendix C: Cross-Matching 12 Factors with RAND Case Studies on 30 Counterinsurgencies.