Dual force concept and civil-military hybridisation of african armed forces : an analysis drawn from the territorial development missions of the military engineers in Cameroon ; Concept de « force duale » et hybridation civilo-militaire des forces armées africaines : analyse à partir des missions d'...
Since the 1990s, African armed forces have been the subject of significant amount of doctrinal production devoted to Security Sector Reform (SSR). However, beyond the efforts to rebuild fragile security apparatuses, it's worth to indicate that one dimension has been underestimated: the process of civil-military hybridisation of the armed forces, which is less commonly used under the expression "dual forces" constitutes the main objective of this study. The dual function of the army is its ability to conduct defense and development missions. In this perspective, the military engineers, "building arm" of the State of Cameroon, is regularly commissioned to carry out local development missions. How do Cameroonian military engineers apprehend the concept of "dual force"? What are the effects of civil-military action on the relationship between the army, politics and the population? How does this public policy evolve? Using a qualitative approach, this study shows that dualisation is no longer an accidental process implemented in a sporadic way, but constitutes a structured public policy. However, it encounters difficulties: on the one hand, the political authorities are cautious of the negative developments of a practice likely to set up the army as an economic actor with the drifts observed in the Egyptian model. On the other hand, the army is still very attached to its martial identity. Nevertheless, dualisation consolidates the relationship between the military, politics and the population, holding the hope for strengthening the army-nation nexus. ; Depuis les années 1990, les forces armées africaines sont l'objet d'une importante production doctrinale consacrée à la Réforme du Secteur de la Sécurité (RSS). Cependant, par-delà les efforts tendant à refonder des appareils sécuritaires fragiles, force est de constater qu'une dimension a été sous-estimée : il s'agit du processus d'hybridation civilo-militaire des forces armées qui, sous le vocable moins usité de « force duale », constitue l'objet central de ce ...