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

• Published in: European journal of international security Vol. 4; no. 2; pp. 163 - 189
• Main Author: DeVore, Marc R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.06.2019
• Subjects: Armed forces; Civil war; Cold War; Colonies & territories; Counterinsurgency; Empowerment; International relations; Military policy; Politics; Population; Power; Rebellions; Research Article; France; Mali; Africa; Intervention; Civil Wars; Civil-Military Relations; France; Counterinsurgency
• DOI: 10.1017/eis.2019.1
• ISSN: 2057-5637

Few 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.