Suchergebnisse

Current Western security doctrines assert that state fragility, radicalization and humanitarian disasters in the global South feed into 'persistent conflict'. Such a scenario consequently requires a closely coordinated and integrated response from political and military actors. In this context, Western governments have introduced the concept of stabilization in their approaches to 'fragile' states. This article aims to understand the expanding activities of the US military in sub-Saharan Africa, which are conducted under the label of stability operations. It will be argued that the vast spectrum of activities under this label – from health projects to drone attacks – can be made comprehensible through the concept of policing, understood as processes of regulating communities with the aim of establishing 'good order'. Key pillars of the US military's stability operations operations doctrine – namely, a focus on the welfare of the population (on a par with the minimum use of force) as well as an extended preventative engagement – overlap with concerns of police power. Presented by security strategists as vulnerable to instability, sub-Saharan Africa has become an experimental ground for the US military, where ideas on stability operations are tested. Empirically, the article discusses two manifestations of stability operations that warrant an analysis through the concept of policing: US Africa Command's (AFRICOM) civil affairs projects and the US military's active involvement in ongoing conflicts.

"The establishment of a military command for Africa (US AFRICOM) symbolizes the radical repositioning of the US military. Facilitated by the consensus in contemporary Western foreign policies - that there can be no development without security - over the last ten years the US military has expanded its activities into civilian domains including development and conflict prevention. As a reaction to the wars in Afghanistan and frag, recent US military doctrines an counterinsurgency and stability operations have singled out the need for more civilian and long-term activities as a precondition for success. AFRICOM has put most of these 'military innovations' into practice. Due to the command's focus on development activities, on civil-military coordination and its proposed engagement in non-war situations, in military circles AFRICOM is seen as a role model for future military practices. This paper problematizes the military's expanding mandate and discusses its implications. It argues that the military's increasing engagement in issues of governance and development deeply blurs the normative boundary between the military and the civilian and exposes development as a technology of security. Furthermore, the military's repositioning follows the dominant securitization of so-called 'fragile states' and classifies social spaces along Western strategic interests. As a consequence, targeted communities find it hard to separate development efforts aimed at countering poverty and those aimed at countering insurgency." (author's abstract)

Nach der Niederlage im Ersten Weltkrieg muss Kaiser Wilhelm untertauchen und findet Zuflucht bei einer befreundeten Adelsfamilie. Seiner üblichen kaiserlichen Tätigkeiten beraubt, holzt Wilhelm kurzerhand den Wald ab, der das Gut umgibt, derweil die Gastgeberin — mit Gespür für die historische Dimension des Geschehens — das Werk «Der Kaiser im Exil» verfasst. In typischer «Bachmannscher Manier» verwebt Der Kaiser im Exil Zitate, historische Überlieferungen und frei Dazuerfundenes zu einer lustvollen und kritischen Parodie des Hochmuts der (ehemals) Mächtigen