"The ideal allies for a government implementing control are, in fact, nonviolent members of the community the would-be insurgents seek to mobilize... If regimes can infiltrate - or, better yet, cooperate with - mainstream groups they are often able to gain information on radical activities and turn potential militants away from violence."

Broadly speaking, counterinsurgency offers two approaches to dealing with opposition, and they must be used selectively. Some adversaries, especially moderates, may be co-opted, bought off, and appeased. Others, the more recalcitrant portion, must be forcefully disorganized, disrupted, deterred, or destroyed. The balance of concessions and coercion will be apportioned accordingly.

Some adversaries win new posts - offices in a "reformed" administration or jobs in "responsible" nonprofits, labor unions, or progressive think tanks. They gain access, inclusion, or representation in exchange for working within the existing institutional framework. The others will face harsher outcomes including, for example, imprisonment, exile, or assassination. Whatever the approach in a particular case, the important thing is that the opposition is neutralized rendered harmless, made controllable, and exploited as either the object or the tool of state power.

— Gang Politics by Kristian Williams (Page 35)