Mastering violence in the Ivory Coast Republic

International crisis and conflicts

The civil war that has been going on for a decade in Ivory Coast reached a climax in November 2002 when hundreds of former military soldiers and NCO attempted to strike a blow against President Gbagbo. On this occasion, the French armed forces deployed in the country to calm down the situation practiced a special doctrine called « Mastering violence operations ». Intervening as a third party between belligerents, the French forces defused the crisis escalation by denying the warring parties any advantage of their strategy of violence. These efforts consisting in « freezing » the military operations in the field, helped prevent a deadly escalation and gave diplomats of the UN, ECOWAS and France enough time to craft a framework for the political agreements required for a mid-term settlement of the conflict. – Summary AFRI-2004

Jean-Jacques PATRY

Docteur en Sciences politiques, maître de recherche à la Fondation pour la recherche stratégique (FRS, Paris, France). Il a notamment publié : en collaboration avec C. G. Fricaud-Chagnaud, « Mourir pour le roi de Prusse. Choix politique et défense de la France », Publisud, Paris, 1995, en collaboration avec L. Francart, « Maîtrise de la violence. Une option stratégique », Economica, Paris, 1999.