(Dis)utilities of Force in a Postcolonial Context: Explaining the Failure of the French-led Intervention in Mali

This event has ended.

Thursday, 14 December 2023

Room 2.22, School of Modern Languages

A GLAS (Global language based area studies) Research Seminar with Tony Chafer, Emeritus Professor of African and French Studies at the University of Portsmouth

Open to all 

Abstract

This paper employs the concept of ‘utility of force’ and proposes a new counterpart – the ‘disutility of force’ – to explore why France’s military intervention in Mali failed despite a major French material power advantage over the armed groups it was combatting.

The paper shows how France’s military approach was unable to adapt appropriately to a changing context and in so doing not only failed to generate political utility in the form of a resolution to the conflict, but actually created disutilities of force that made it worse. This failure reignited postcolonial tensions that both made it harder to change course and increased the intractability of the conflict.

Biography

Tony Chafer is Emeritus Professor of African and French Studies at the University of Portsmouth.

He is a historian specializing on francophone Africa and French relations with Africa in the late colonial and post-colonial periods. His monograph The End of Empire in French West Africa: France’s Successful Decolonization? was updated and published in French in a new edition by Presses Universitaires de Rennes in 2019. He has published numerous articles on French Africa policy, including 'Beyond Françafrique – the state of relations between France and Africa', in Europa Regional (2024); 'France’s Interventions in Mali and the Sahel: A Historical Institutionalist Perspective' (with Gordon Cumming and Roel van der Velde, 2020); 'France in Mali: towards a new Africa strategy?', in International Journal of Francophone Studies (2016), and ‘French African policy in historical perspective’, in T. Young (ed.), Readings in the International Relations of Africa (2016). He edited (with Margaret Majumdar) The Handbook of Francophone Africa (2024).

Event format & recording

The event will take place in person and will be recorded for publication after the event.

Simultaneous Translation

The event will be delivered in the medium of English. You are welcome to ask questions in the medium of Welsh during the Q&A session. If you intend to do this, please contact mlang-events@cardiff.ac.uk by Tuesday 12 December to request simultaneous translation. Please note that 10% or more of those planning to attend will need to request this provision in order for it to be sourced and will be subject to resource availability.

Registration

Please register for this event.

We apologise that the entire registration page is not available in the medium of Welsh.  Unfortunately, the platform we use does not offer this service.

Data protection notice

Please note that when registering, your data will be held in accordance with our Data Protection Notice. We will process the personal data you provide to us in accordance with data protection regulations.