Policing Africa: The US military and visions of crafting ‘good order’

Abstract

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.

A long view of liberal peace and its crisis

“…Similar interlacing can be found in the evolving globe-spanning security assemblages defending liberal order through the ‘War on Terror’ (e.g. Bachman, 2014). As our analysis of Sri Lanka showed, the deep-seated and sometimes perverse outcomes of these global–local assemblages are not determined by the competencies or motivations of individual actors, but emerge over the longue durée through the interwoven pursuits of competing ideals of order.…”

Introduction – Peacebuilding Amidst Violence

“…In this context, the much-lamented dearth of distinctness in defining stabilization turned out to be the concept's strength. Its malleable boundaries created a sign under which humanitarian, development and security actors could mingle and develop interventions in the pursuit of peace (Bachmann 2014). At the same time, stabilization efforts can be said to reverse peacebuilding intentions by purporting that peace hinges on 'security first', thus constituting a next step towards a more coercive type of liberal peacebuilding (Mac Ginty 2012; cf.…”

An assemblage approach to liquid warfare: AFRICOM and the ‘hunt’ for Joseph Kony

“…In tracing and mapping the materials, practices and bodies that make up the Kony military assemblage, we use a variety of sources. Building on a small body of academic work ( Bachmann, 2014 ; Branch, 2011 , 2012 ; Fisher, 2012 , 2014 ; McNeill, 2017 ; Titeca and Costeur, 2015 ), we draw on the investigative journalism of key experts such as Nick Turse and Craig Whitlock, as well as a range of primary sources (US government websites, press releases, speeches, evaluation reports, NGO briefings, online videos, military magazines, online contractor documents). We gathered and triangulated information on facilities such as military bases, ‘cooperative security locations’ and ‘forward operation locations’, but also bureaucratic and military practices, M2M trainings and military assistance programmes, as well as private military contracting.…”