Imagine you’re the leader of a militant group. Your enemy is a government far stronger than your crew. How can you beat the odds and achieve your political goals? For over a decade, the author has studied hundreds of militant groups throughout world history to discern why some succeed while others are doomed to fail. This book offers welcome news for the rebel. It turns out that the leaders of militant groups possess a surprising amount of agency over their political destiny. Triumph is possible. But only for those who know what to do. This is the first book to identify a cohesive set of actions that can enable militant leaders to win. Discover the secrets of their success. Successful militants follow three simple rules that are based on original insights from numerous disciplines (communication, criminology, economics, history, management, marketing, political science, psychology, sociology) and methodological approaches (qualitative cases studies, content analysis, network analysis, regression analysis, experiments). There’s a science to victory in world history. But even rebels must follow rules.