After Mali: Learning from the French Experience of Irregular Warfare in the Sahel

October 07, 2022 00:56:22
After Mali: Learning from the French Experience of Irregular Warfare in the Sahel
Irregular Warfare Podcast
After Mali: Learning from the French Experience of Irregular Warfare in the Sahel

Oct 07 2022 | 00:56:22

/

Show Notes

Subscribe to the IWI monthly newsletter by going to www.irregularwarfare.org!

This episode explores the French experience with irregular warfare in the Sahel region of Africa since 2013 and features two guests. Brigadier General François-Marie Gougeon is a career officer in the French army who served as chief of staff for the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali from 2019 to 2020. Professor Will Reno is the chair of the Political Science Department at Northwestern University, the author of three books on African politics and warfare, and currently conducting research on foreign military assistance in weak states. They begin by explaining why the French were involved in combat operations in the Sahel and how their forces were organized against several armed insurgencies. They go on to explore the effectiveness, and shortfalls, of the light-footprint approach utilized by the French in Africa, to include in the area of building partner-force capacity, before emphasizing the essential role that local political dynamics play in irregular warfare success.

Intro music: "Unsilenced" by Ketsa

Outro music: "Launch" by Ketsa

CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Other Episodes

Episode 0

July 03, 2020 00:41:01
Episode Cover

Irregular Warfare Oversight in DC

What are the mechanics and politics that determine how the US government approaches irregular conflicts? That's the question at the center of this episode...

Listen

Episode

January 27, 2023 00:48:22
Episode Cover

The Many Faces of Al-Shabaab

Subscribe to the IWI monthly newsletter by going to www.irregularwarfare.org! Somalia’s security landscape is complex, making the challenge of understanding the terrorist group al-Shabaab...

Listen

Episode

July 29, 2022 00:58:50
Episode Cover

Spies, Lies, and Algorithms: US Intelligence in a Changing World

This episode focuses on the US intelligence community and its role in supporting the spectrum of national security missions, from the heavy counterterrorism focus...

Listen