Algerian Army Research Articles

Intelligence warning in the corporate sector: the 2013 In Amenas terrorist attack in retrospect

ABSTRACT The 2013 terrorist attack at the In Amenas, Algeria gas production facility killed 40 innocent people and shook the corporate security industry. Analyzing this event raises important questions about the nature and limitations of intelligence warning for private industry. Corporate security intelligence has been adopted by many companies that desire a ‘decision advantage’, but in this case, it failed to foresee the attack. A seminal report on the attack produced by Statoil (now Equinor) encouraged numerous changes in how companies should protect themselves against severe security threats. One conclusion was that in uncertain and dangerous environments, intelligence cannot be relied upon to reduce uncertainty and provide adequate warning. The Statoil report acknowledges that the joint venture likely would not have gotten the intelligence necessary to warn of an impending attack. The core business is not necessarily focused on the changing threat environment. In this case, even more accurate ‘tactical’ intelligence might not have led to a timely evacuation. Moreover, as the Algerian Army's failure to prevent the In Amenas attack reveals, corporations' risk assessments cannot ignore the severe limitations of their host country security institutions. This case study raises some concerns about overvaluing corporate intelligence’s effectiveness in high-risk security environments.

Gender Dynamics, Space, and Identity Formation in Yasmina Khadra’s What the Day Owes the Night (2008, 2011)

Yasmina Khadra’s’ ‘Ce Que le Jour Doit à la Nuit’ (What the Day Owes the Night) is an Algerian best-selling novel originally written in French. Yasmina Khadra is the non de plume of the Algerian army officer, Mohammed Moulesshoul. Moulesshoul utilised a female pseudonym to avoid the inspections of his manuscripts by the army. The version I use in this article is a translation from French by Frank Wynne (2011). Yasmina Khadra discusses the human existence in a way that seeks to determine the purpose of all life beyond one’s social condition. In other words, Yasmina Khadra perceives life as a continuum of interpersonal and intrapersonal relations that possess a strong effect on the social subjects’ existence in the world. Also, being an Algerian drives Yasmina Khadra to concentrate on issues of identity, colonialism, the production, and circulation of particular social and cultural knowledge, along with the struggle of gender and political identification. Yasmina Khadra’s narrative is a manifestation of the struggle to produce a historic national culture and a narrative discourse free of the shackles of colonialist knowledge and mode of thought. This article uses CDA and thematic analysis to critically outline and investigate the gender dynamics and identity formation that characterise Khadra’s narrative discourse.

Editorials of Conspiracy Hate and Insecurity: The Algerian Military Magazine ‘El-Djeich’ as a Case

This research critically analyzes 10 editorials written in French that the Algerian army magazine (El-Djeich) published from January 2021 to October 2021, a peak time for the army to reinforce its threatening discourse against Morocco (the classical enemy of Algeria). It attempts to explore how the editorials employ a conspiracy narrative to represent Morocco as a country that has been waging wars and threatening its stability. The editorials aim to construct an ‘outer enemy’ to shift the public opinion from political, social, and economic problems that the appointed political leadership fails to solve. More than that, the editorials try to reestablish the image of the army underestimated by the social protestation Hirak which claims a ‘civil and not a military state’. Since the 16th of February 2019, the Hirak has been claiming that the army should return to its barracks and take care of the security of the country's borders instead of interfering in social, political, and economic affairs. The theoretical framework of this study was based on van Dijk’s model (van Dijk, 1985, 1989, 1993, 1998a, 1998b, 2000, 2004, 2006) to treat the texts as a voice of the Algerian army that violently attacks Morocco, amidst high tensions between the two countries, accusing the kingdom of instrumentalizing ‘conspiracies’ and waging ‘cyber-attacks' against Algeria. Relying on critical discourse analysis (CDA), the many linguistic constructions identified in the editorials reflect that the stand of the army and the political leadership towards Morocco are unfounded and fallacious. For instance, the findings of this research identified a pattern of argumentation based on erroneous allegations that the magazine of the army attributed to Morocco. Devoid of any proofs, the editorials have portrayed Morocco as a ‘threat to the country’. As a matter of fact, the study assumes that the magazine of the army uses editorials to rally the population against an external enemy and to divert the attention of the Algerian population from real internal problems. Indeed, the challenge for the Algerian military leadership is to convince the Hirak partisans, who strongly denounce the interference of the army in Algerians life, that the national army is the only institution that can stop an external enemy (Morocco) which threatens their well-being than do internal economic, political and security challenges.

The impact of the constitutional amendments on Algeria?s position towards the Libyan

The article seeks to provide a scientific and critical reading on Algerian diplomatic behavior towards the ongoing Libyan crisis between the government of Tripoli and the military officer Khalifa Haftar, and their supporters from regional and international powers, especially with the suggestion to send the Algerian army out of its borders for deliberation. With systematic analysis of the data related to Algerian diplomatic activity through documented statements and statistics, the researcher has reached several conclusions. The most important of these is that Algeria is seeking political solutions, intensifying diplomatic efforts rather of military solutions and security approaches. Also taking a single distance from all parties, including international forces, which are intervening or seeking to intervene in Libya; public references in direct or indirect ways to the proposal to send an Algerian military force outside its borders with the consent of the United Nations, which constitutes proactive behavior against future military problems and is not exclusively linked to Libya's crisis.

Variations among North African Military Regimes

This article explores the differences between two North African military regimes—Egypt and Algeria—which have been selected due to the continuity of military dominance of the political systems. Still, variations have marked their political development. In particular, the Algerian army’s approach to civilian institutions changed after a civilian president was chosen in 1999. This was not the case in Egypt after the demise of the Hosni Mubarak regime of 2011. Other important variations are to be found in the way power has been distributed among the military apparatuses themselves. In the case of Egypt, a principle of collegiality has been generally preserved within a body, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), which is absent in the case of Algeria, where conflicts between military opposed factions are more likely to arise in case of crisis. How differences generally impact the stability of military rule in these two cases is the main contribution of this paper.

The Democratizer Army Paradox: The Role of the Algerian Army in Impeded Democratization

The main paradox of the civil–military relations theory has been the protection of the political sphere from the military, which is administered by the politicians. The new dilemma lies under the paradox that occurs when the political sphere is entirely co-opted by the military, which is legitimized through democratization instead of protection of the civilian sphere. The question regarding the continuity of the pathology, the military superiority over the civil administration, has been largely omitted. This study is an attempt to respond to this conundrum related to the continuity of pathological civil–military relations. The main focus is the pathology that occurs when the military is the modernizer or the democratizer in a country. The study uses process tracing to collect the data as research attempts to unravel the rationale behind the continuity of military dominance in politics. In doing so, it will attempt to trace the causality between the lack of democratization and military dominance over politics in the case of Algeria.

Histoire et Fiction dans à Quoi Rêvent les Loups ? de Yasmina Khadra

History and Fiction in the novel What Wolves Dream Yasmina Khadra Successful author translated into several languages, yasmina khadra of his real name Mohamed Moulessehou is no longer to be presented. An officer in the Algerian army, he participated in the fight against terrorism, the institution he left in two thousand to dedicate himself to his vocation writing, he chose to do French. Morituri reveals it to the general public. The work of Yasmina Khadra is part of a particular political context, so the reader is tapped between two diametrically opposed positions insofar as the latter sees herself hearing between the analysis of a real lived that is identifiable and that of d A fictional production in the strict sense of the word. It is therefore at the threshold of our research that we must question the notion of fiction in its epistemological meaning and in its distanced view of reality in order to account for the extent of the fictitious composition that structures the works of Yasmina Khadra. Our attention will be limited to the analysis of a novel Wolf Dreams that exploit the referential spaces within which is traced the Algerian tragedy of the nineties. However, the paratexte according to Gerard Genette specifies that it is an artistic production signed by an author. It is around this novel and the double reading that he proposes (Reading fictional / factual reading) that articulates our problematic: -what are the superior processes the author uses to pass from history to fiction? -By passing from history to fiction, what effect does it seek to produce on the reader? Based on the notions History / Fiction, we will see commentary through the course of the character Nafa walid, it slips from a real space to a fictional space. For more information, please visit our website. Gerard Genette, John Searle, Jean-Marie and Philippe Lejeune, which makes our analysis a multidisciplinary approach.

“The Algerian Army Made Me a Man”

Abdeldjalil Larbi Youcef reveals startling facts about a little-known period of Mandela’s life, when he was on the lam in northern Africa and received a short, yet formative, introduction to armed resistance from the Algerian revolutionary forces

Algeria: revolution, army and political power

Despite the numerous similarities among the Arab countries that explain the rapid popular movements since the end of 2010, the case of Algeria presents particular features. It shares the same inequalities and social challenges as the rest of the countries in the region. However, the revolutionary process in Algeria between 1954 and 1962 and the civil war that hit the country during the 1990s with the Berbers' regional claims have depoliticized the masses or generated a fear of change. This explains why mobilizations in Algeria have not been successful as in other countries. In addition, the role of the Algerian army is sui generis and has allowed the current stability around an old president.

The relation between the military and the political in contemporary Algerian history

This article details the background to the Algerian military establishment that assumed effective control of the country upon independence from France in 1962 and its subsequent internal power struggles between the likes of Iban Ramadan, Ahmad Ben Bellah and Houwari Boumedienne. While the Algerian adage that ‘some states have an army, but in Algeria, the army has a state’ has had a degree of applicability – especially throughout the 1960s and 1970s, there have been various attempts by Algerians to carve out a political sphere independent from the military. Chastened by the bloody experiences of the crucible in the wake of the abrogated 1992 elections – when the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) had emerged victorious, the army which had paid a heavy price in casualties and damage to its reputation sought to distance itself from the political sphere. The author also makes the case that while independence from France was won primarily through the fighting and sacrifices of the Algerian army of the interior, the Revolution was co-opted largely by elements of the army of the exterior – from the border regions – which participated little or not at all in the actual liberation, but which would subsequently go on to revise history to imply that their role had been crucial to the process. With many of the most prominent figures of the independence generation either deceased or stepping down, and with their replacement by younger generations of officers who are patriotic but less dogmatic and more sympathetic to the Algerian people, the article provides essential background to current events and suggests that the ‘new’ Algerian military is distinct from the previous and more receptive to an enlarged political and civil space.No. 29, Winter 2011.

Recycling Baraka: Knowledge, Politics, and Religion in Contemporary Algeria

Since the overwhelming electoral victory of Algeria's main Islamist party, the Front Islamique du Salut (FIS), in 1990 and 1991, the annulment of the elections by the Algerian army in 1992, and a decade of apparently random killings that followed throughout the country, religion has been at stake in most contemporary debates on Algeria. Algeria has thereby entered the field of larger debates within the Western world about radical Islam, the rise of religion, the rejection of “Western models,” and other expressions of the putative “clash of civilizations.” At the same time, relatively little has been said about what “Islam” actually means in the Algerian context, even by more perspicacious authors and analysts who are keen to stress the economic and social causes for the success of political Islam in Algeria (e.g., Burgat 1988; 1995; Charef 1994; Martinez 1998). This is not to say that the variety of religious practices in Algeria has attracted no attention from researchers. Rather, it means that those writers who focus on ‘local’ religion, such as Andezian (1993; 2001) and Hadibi (1999; 2002), tend to produce local accounts of the veneration of saints and pilgrimages, without referring to broader cultural dynamics and political struggles, and without attempting to link their findings in more than superficial ways to the emergence of modern Islamism.

Transnational political participation of Algerians in France. Extra-territorial civil society versus transnational governmentality

Since independence, the Algerian state has had mechanisms in place to control its emigrant population but the recent conflict resulted in, and was in part caused by, the crumbling of many of these institutions of control. Throughout the conflict, migrants based in France have been able to exert considerable influence on the Algerian government, while the Algerian government has sought to discredit or control their activities. This article examines an episode of political protest against the Algerian regime by Algerian migrants in France that resulted in a series of high profile court cases in France between 2001 and 2004. The protests originated in allegations of human rights abuses by the Algerian army that were detailed in a series of books, principally Qui a tue a Bentalha? [Yous, N. with the collaboration of Mellah, S. (2000). Qui a tue a Bentalha? Algerie: chronique d'un massacre annonce. Paris: La Decouverte.] and La sale guerre [Souaidia, H. (2001). La sale guerre. Paris: La Decouverte.]. The article draws on a series of interviews with politically active and non-politically active migrants in France and the UK, including the authors of both books and leading figures on both sides of the debate, in order to establish the nature of the relationship between political activism by migrants in France and civil society in Algeria. The literature on civil society is used to highlight the relationship between French-based associations and the Algerian government. The article concludes that French-based activists must be judged on the extent to which they engage with the Algerian government and contribute to the growth of developing civil society within Algeria.

Political armies: the military and nation building in the age of democracy

* Introduction * 1. Military Politics and the Mission of Nation Building - Kees Koonings and Dirk Kruijt * 2. From Military Reformists to Civilian Dictatorship: Peruvian Military Politics since 1960s - Dirk Kruijt & Maria Del Pilar Tello * 3. The Guatemalan Politico-Military Project: Whose Ship of State? - Jennifer Schirmer * 4. The Military and Politics in Brazil, 1964-2000 - Celso Castro * 5.A Political Army in Chile: Historical Assessment and Prospects for the New Democracy - Felipe Aguero * 6. The Janus Face of the Indonesian Armed Forces - Nico Schulte Nordholt * 7. The Military, Politics and Post-Cold War Dilemma's in Turkey - Aylin Guney * 8. The Algerian Army and the State - Lahouari Addi * 9. Entrenched Militarism and the Future of Democratic Transition in Nigeria - J'kayode Fayemi * 10. Political Armies and the Nation State in Ethiopia and Eritrea - Robin Luckham * 11. Army Politics as a Historical Legacy: The Experience of Burma - Martin Smith * 12. Serbia and the Politics of the Yugoslav Armies: Communism, Federalism and Democracy - James Gow * 13. The Military Politics: Old Wine in New Bottles? An Attempt at Stock-Taking - Emanuel De Kadt * Epilogue: Political Armies between Continuity and Demise - Kees Koonings and Dirk Kruijt

An Inquiry into the Algerian Massacres

The book under review offers a monumental, exhaustive and judiciousaccount of"who are the agents behind the 'horrendous violence' that has followedthe consolidation of the military over incumbent authorities?" Theanswer provided by the victors, those with the power to institute their choic esand interpretations, is that the paroxysm of "Islamic fundamentalism" isexacting grisly, gratuitous and ghastly violence on a society they have beenunable to conquer. On the contrary, scholars insist the beneficiaries of theresource rich regions of Algeria, largely unscathed in the carnage, are indicativeof the faceless murderers behind the monstrosity. Moreover, the primaryimportance of these resources to foreign states and corporations indicatescomplicity. Amidst this confusing scenario, An lnqui!J' into the AlgerianMassacres provides a clear analysis of the beastly culprits.Major international human rights organizations and outstanding journalistshave not found the "Islamic fundamentalist" argument compellingand continue to raise the same question: "Who is behind these grisly atrocities?"The evidence unearthed strongly suggests that the unseen hands,responsible for the bloodbath, belong to the Algerian army. In addition,striking corroboration has come from defectors and victims which incriminatesthe Algerian military apparatus and such foreign co-conspirators asthe French government. This allegation is firmly supported by the environsof the savagery, taking place in close proximity to military and policeinstallations, yet raging for long periods with no interference.Further disturbing, this charge against the Algerian authorities becomesincreasingly credible against the backdrop of the hideous record of rape, tortureand mutilation perpetrated by Algerian mjlitary authorities, well documentedby independent human rights monitors and reputable reporters.Noam Chomsky, in his insightful foreword to the book, collaborates this ...

The First Helicopter War: Logistics and Mobility in Algeria, 1954-1962

Preface Introduction The Physical Environment The French Armed Forces in Algeria French Logistics in Algeria: Supply and Maintenance French Logistics in Algeria: Transportation The Algerian National Liberation Front and Its Army The Logistics of the Algerian Army of National Liberation Mobility, Counter-Mobility, and Interdiction Logistics and Mobility in Algeria, 1954-1962 Major French Combat Forces in Algeria in 1960 Characteristics of French Transport Aircraft and Helicopters Glossary Common French Map Symbols Selected Bibliography Subject Index