Abstract
War and policy changeUrgent operational requirement acquisition processes and the French armed forces in AfghanistanThe war in Afghanistan (2001-2012) was one of the most demanding conflicts that the French armed forces have faced since the end of the East-West confrontation. To adapt their equipment to the specifics of this conflict, the French armed forces were notably led to resort to an original procurement procedure from 2004, qualified as “emergency operational procurement”. The purpose of this article is to appreciate the change that the use of this unprecedented procedure has brought about in French arms policy. It shows that the war in Afghanistan did not cause a radical and sudden change in French armaments policy. However, it nevertheless favored the introduction of a certain number of unprecedented representations and practices for the actors in charge of its definition, which would certainly not have taken place, or in any case not at the rate and in the form it took, without France’s engagement in this conflict. In doing so, it enables analysis to return to the question of the relationship between war, “critique junctures”, and change in public policies.