scholarly journals Strategic satisficing: Civil-military relations and French intervention in Africa

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-189
Author(s):  
Marc R. DeVore
Keyword(s):  
Critical Case ◽  
Civil Military Relations ◽  
Military Institutions ◽  
Military Relations ◽  
Security Agreements

AbstractFew issues are more important yet less understood than outside interventions in intra-state conflicts. Under what circumstances do intervening states further their interests and when, contrarily, do they plunge into quagmires? France is a critical case. It is, statistically, the world’s second intervenor and earned the sobriquet of Africa’s gendarme through frequent interventions in African wars. The ability of such a medium-sized state to intervene with greater regularity and ostensible success than larger powers raises questions about how France manages its interventions. Do French interventions draw on the French Army’s distinctive ‘school’ of population-centric counterinsurgency, which emphasises the need to militarise governance in pursuit of comprehensive victories? Or do the French Fifth Republic’s civil-military institutions encourage policymakers to carefully regulate force’s employment in pursuit of limited ends? This study draws on declassified archives to test which approach most characterises French interventions. To preview my conclusions, strategic satisficing – the use of minimal force for short durations to produce satisfactory outcomes – distinguishes the Fifth Republic’s interventions from other powers’ practices and prior French counterinsurgencies. This particular form of interventionism enables France to influence a large number of intra-state conflicts and maintain a network of security agreements with African states.

The Civil-Military Implications of Emerging Technology

2020 ◽  
pp. 221-244
Author(s):  
Risa Brooks
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Technological Change ◽  
Emerging Technology ◽  
Civil Military Relations ◽  
Strategic Assessment ◽  
Military Institutions ◽  
Military Relations ◽  
The Military

This chapter argues that adaptation of emerging technology—artificial intelligence (AI), among other forms—will introduce new stresses and tensions in civil-military relations across a variety of domains and contexts. Specifically, the analysis highlights four areas of potential stress. The first area is the organizational implications of technological change and innovation for military institutions and civilian actors. The second is the opportunities and obstacles emerging technology poses for civilian oversight of the military. A third area includes how the introduction of technology in advisory processes at the senior level may affect tensions in strategic assessment and the provision of military advice in those processes. A final issue is the evolving character of the profession of arms and the diminution of the military’s exclusive domain of expertise relative to civilian actors.

West Africa: Civil–Military Relations From a Colonial Perspective

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naila Salihu
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Civil Wars ◽  
West African ◽  
The Political ◽  
Civil Military Relations ◽  
Societal Actors ◽  
Military Institutions ◽  
Military Relations ◽  
The Military ◽  
Coups D'etat

Civil–military relations is traditionally concerned with the nature and interaction among three societal actors namely military institutions, political elites, and the citizenry. The nature of this complex relationship and whether it is harmonious to prevent military intervention in politics depends on how these societal actors cooperate on certain societal variables. Civil–military relations of West African countries are influenced by those countries’ colonial and postindependence experiences. The military establishments of most African states were birthed from colonial armies. Historically rooted pathologies about the role of the security and defense forces in society created deep cleavages between state and the military, and their relations to political authority on the one hand, and society on the other. The use of African armies for political and imperialist purposes during the colonial era and their roles in the struggle for independence were important factors in shaping the behavior of African armies after independence. Most colonial states did not attain independence with indigenous, nationalist-oriented military institutions. The transition of colonial regiments into the national armies of newly independent states were met with challenges in terms of establishing legitimacy and effectiveness, as these institutions had been set up under conditions that were not ideally suited to the needs of new states. Most postindependence African leaders missed the opportunity to build democratic and national militaries; instead, they maintained the status quo, as these leaders appeared more interested in building large armies for the purposes of regime stability. Successive political leaders resorted to deleterious devices such as patron–client systems, ethnic manipulation, and politicization of the military. These practices undermined the professionalism of the security apparatus and provided breeding grounds for pretorian tendencies. As the military became conscious of their political power, coups d’état became a common feature in the political dispensation of West African states. Frequent military interventions in West Africa often came with destabilizing consequences such as devastating military rules, intra-military conflicts, insurgencies, and even civil wars. Even in those countries where civil wars did not occur, the military were influential in the political landscape, in which autocratic regimes ruled with an iron hand and often used the military to inflict severe hardship on the citizens. With the return to constitutional democracies from the late 1980s, it was widely expected the role or influence of the military in the political space would be diminished as those states became more professional and democratic. However, coups d’état have reduced in the region, rather than going away completely, and the military as a state institution with a monopoly over legitimate force remains a very strong political actor, even under civilian governments. Former metropoles have been providing defense and security assistance programs to West African states for diverse reasons, including maintaining strategic hold on former colonies. Some of these interventions that aim at professionalization of the military have produced mixed outcomes in the region. In Anglophone West Africa, the British colonial policy of indirect rule contributed to the class division between the upper class (civilian politicians) and the lower class (the military and common people). This, coupled with the use of the military as agents of repression to safeguard colonial interests, created a popular dislike and negative image of colonial armies. State militaries went on to become destabilizing forces in political processes across the region. After independence, United Kingdom maintained a fluctuating presence in its former colonies due to its imperial past and strategic interests. In French West Africa, Africans were recruited from French colonies into the French army serve France’s military interests. African soldiers played diverse roles in their countries’ struggles for independence, which led to the military’s having a central role in the politics of postindependence Francophone states. France’s Africa policy differs from that of other former colonial powers in terms of its postindependence engagements with former colonies. In other parts of West Africa, Portuguese colonialism contributed to the creation of a central role for national liberation forces, which metamorphosed into postindependence military and political actors, with destabilizing consequences.

scholarly journals Pakistan Civil-Military Relations in the Context of External Politics

2017 ◽  
Vol II (I) ◽  
pp. 45-62
Author(s):  
Shaista Taj ◽  
Nazim Rahim ◽  
Muhammad Shoaib Malik
Keyword(s):  
Military Establishment ◽  
Power Politics ◽  
Security Issues ◽  
Civil Military Relations ◽  
Global Power ◽  
Military Institutions ◽  
Military Relations

Pakistan's military establishment defends its prominent role in the society due to the set of complex threats and a series of conflicts which Pakistan has been facing. At the time of its creation, Pakistan found itself in the midst of instability due to the adverse policies of its rival neighbors. Pakistan has the decisive position in the global power politics. The disconcerting situation develop due to the sense of guardianship. The army believes that the civilian government lacks the vision and political insight which enables state to operate the affairs other than the security issues without soliciting military institutions.

scholarly journals Civil-Military Relations in Latin America

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian E. Loveman
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Public Works ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Civil Military Relations ◽  
Contact Points ◽  
Military Institutions ◽  
Military Relations

Before the wave of military coups and military governments from the early 1960s until 1990, the social science and history literature on civil-military relations in Latin America was virtually devoid of serious empirical research. In response to the surge in military governments in the region, this literature burgeoned. This article gives priority to landmark theoretical treatments, comparative research, and selected country studies with extensive bibliographical materials. While this article may have inevitably omitted the favorite books and articles of some researchers, it includes work illustrating diverse theoretical, empirical, and normative approaches to civil-military relations in Latin America. It does not include the much more extensive literature on comparative civil-military relations. In a broad sense, “civil-military relations” refers to the contact points, formal and informal, of the armed forces with civilians and civilian policymakers as well as civilian perceptions of military institutions and military perceptions of civilian and government institutions. Such contact points may include, among many others, military participation in various government agencies and policymaking councils, legislative oversight of military budgets, approval of promotions of high-ranking officers, appointments to military academies, definition of the curriculum in military schools and academies, collaboration on formation of defense and national security policy, and connections of military officers to political parties, voluntary associations, religious institutions, and other arenas in which civilian and military contacts occur. Media access to, and coverage of, the armed forces may also be an important aspect of civil-military relations. After first identifying the “pioneers” in the study of civil-military relations in Latin America, the sections of this article then focus on studies of the constitutional missions of the Latin American armed forces and their statutory authority, from internal policing to developing numerous economic enterprises, public works, and providing disaster relief. A subsequent section considers the jurisdiction of military courts over civilians both in normal times and under regimes of exception and emergency authority (state of siege, state of assembly, state of internal commotion, and other temporary suspension of constitutional rights and liberties included in almost all Latin American constitutions). Following the sections on formal and institutional treatments of civil-military relations, the article turns to the vast literature on the causes of military coups in Latin America, comparative and case studies of civil-military relations from 1959 to 1990, the transitions back to civilian government (1978–early 1990s), discussions of “civilian control” or “civilian supremacy” over military institutions, the literature on post–1990 civil-military relations in the region, and, finally, a section on the most recent research (2009–2020) on Latin American civil-military relations.

The Sovereigns and Civil-Military Relations in Nigerian Fourth Republic

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-59
Author(s):  
Nelson Goldpin Obah-Akpowoghaha ◽  
◽  
Adegbite Simon Aboluwoye ◽  
Kelechi Johnmary Ani ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Civil Military Relations ◽  
Fourth Republic ◽  
Military Relations

Civil Military Relation and Stabilization in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), Pakistan

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tughral Yamin
Keyword(s):  
Paper Briefly ◽  
Conflict Zones ◽  
Stabilization Process ◽  
Civil Military Relations ◽  
Salient Points ◽  
Military Relations ◽  
The Military ◽  
Tribal Areas

The importance of civil military relations assumes seminal importance in ensuring the success of all phases of a counter insurgency campaign. In the true tradition of the Clausewitzian dictum that war is the continuation of policy and vice versa; Pakistan Army has been employed as a matter of policy in counter insurgency operations in the erstwhile tribal areas. They have also been used in the stabilization operations to bring about normality in the insurgency ridden areas. In fact the employment of Pakistan Army in the stabilization process defies any previous example in any other country. In all phases of the conflict cycle, the military has worked hand in glove with its civilian counterparts. The civil-military coordination (CIMIC) in the insurgency ridden areas has taken place within the framework of the established ground rules of an organized counter insurgency campaign. It would not be unfair to say that the return to normality in the erstwhile FATA has only been possible because of a well-knit CIMIC architecture. This paper briefly explicates the salient points of the CIMIC aspect of the counter and post-insurgency part of the operations in the conflict zones and highlights the importance of this aspect of dealing with insurgencies.

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