Comment les armées innovent en temps de guerre : les États-Unis en Irak, 2003-2007
This master is about wartime military innovation and more precisely about the transition of the US armed forces from conventional warfare to counterinsurgency during the Iraq war. This case of military innovation is interesting because it marks a radical change in the practices of the US Army and the US Marine Corps all the more so as they both have been frequently trying to avoid counterinsurgency missions in their history. This research will try to explain how the US armed forces have innovated in the Iraq war. We consider that the transition from conventional warfare to counterinsurgency is the result of a process of innovation produced simultaneously at the bottom and at the top of the US military. First of all, from the bottom-up, we think that units from the Army and the marines have developped new counterinsurgency capacities following an exploration process of new tactics and techniques on the battlefield. Then, from the top-down, we believe that counterinsurgency is the consequence of a strategic change in the operations of the Army and the marines. This research will be divided in four chapters. The first chapter is devoted to the military innovation models. The second chapter will present a brief narrative of the Iraq war from 2003 to 2007. Chapters 3 and 4 will offer an analysis of the counterinsurgency innovation process respectively from the bottom-up and the top-down.
Surge Military innovation United States of America Counterinsurgency Iraq war