National Traditions and International Context:
French Adaptation to Counterinsurgency in the 21st Century
Author: Stéphane Taillat
Volume 6, Number 1 (Autumn 2010), pp. 85-96.
Abstract
Counterinsurgency is often seen as a specialty for the French Army. Engaged in many contingency operations throughout the world, the French Army gathered a significant set of experiences ranging from the brutal struggle against Maoist insurgents in Indochina and in Algeria to the establishment of French rule in Africa from the nineteenth century onwards. That said, French soldiers are not exempt from the current trend in western armies to adapt to contemporary operations in Afghanistan and in Iraq. This article aims to consider the doctrinal adaptation at work since the beginning of the twenty-first century, especially with regards to a more general evolution in the western world under the pressure of an institutional isomorphism coming from the United States.
About the Author
Stéphane Taillat has a Master’s Degree in History and a Master’s Degree in International Relations from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Toulouse. A Reserve officer in the French Army, he is a PhD candidate in Military History and Defense Studies at the Centre de Recherches Interdisciplinaire en Sciences Humaines et Sociales (CRISES) at the University of Montpellier. He is also a Research Associate at the Institut de Recherches Stratégiques de l’Ecole Militaire. stephane.taillat@gmail.com.
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