Brennus 4.0 - N°4 - The CDEC newsletter

Achieving tactical success does not guarantee final victory, as we are well aware: peace still has to be won, and crisis exit processes and transition operations are complex and sensitive actions. Complex, because of the diversity and number of actors involved, such as foreign and local armed forces, political and diplomatic actors, economic partners, and international and non-governmental organizations, all of which participate in conflict resolution in a comprehensive approach, but with their own processes and ambitions. Sensitive, because these operations change the balance between actors with sometimes contradictory stakes and objectives.

The quality of the relations between all the parties involved is essential to restore balance and stability in order to promote transition and then normalization. This is why the end of a crisis always takes time and calls for special skills that can take military leaders and their units out of their usual training framework: for example, Gallieni recommended that "pacification" should be accompanied by military action in the fields of administration, the economy and education, that there should be permanent contact with the inhabitants and that they should have a perfect knowledge of the country and its languages. But these military actions can only be sustainable if the force has a thorough understanding of the drivers of the conflict and the levers of action on the various actors.

An intercultural approach is necessary not only for the leaders who take the decisions, but also for the entire force that interacts with populations, partners and adversaries. It is thus essential to know the cultural, historical, religious and societal codes and, if possible, the deep norms and logics that animate the societies in which we act. Otherwise, the most generous actions will be perceived at best as out of step, at worst as inept and aggressive. Moreover, an intercultural approach also consists in knowing one's own cultural characteristics, those which animate us and which naturally introduce a "bias" in the observation and in the exchanges with our partners. It is therefore essential to adopt an intercultural approach in order to move from confrontation to cooperation and to introduce an additional factor of success into our military actions.

It is in the development of this consideration of intercultural factors that EMSOME is now positioning itself. A historic training and preparation body for service outside metropolitan France, the specialised staff for overseas and foreign countries is gradually becoming a real school of interculturality. A crucible for training, but also for reflection, the EMSOME works in close collaboration with the CDEC. In the absence of a "Studies and Foresight Department" within the EMSOME, the aim is to combine its "interculturality" network with the CDEC's capacity for reflection and doctrine, in order to develop a new intercultural training offer adapted to current issues. The presence of the Centre Terre pour le partenariat militaire opérationnel (CPMO) alongside the EMSOME also contributes directly to the use of intercultural concepts, while contributing to reflection through feedback from the units in charge of the PMO in the field.

The overall intercultural understanding of those involved in a conflict is therefore a real challenge for the success of transition operations and prevention actions.

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