This article reports on the current status of the system of the French military reserve. By reviewing a brief history of France’s military, the author shows the existing ambivalence regarding the establishment of a permanent part-time force. In France, conscription was suspended in 1996, and a smaller professional military was created. This smaller force required a review of the needs and role of the French reserve force. Today, in France there are two reserve types: the operational and the ‘‘citizen’’ reserves. Each is examined in terms of its activities and the role, profiles, and motivations of its members. This analysis sheds light on the initial question of whether the French reserve is a real or an abstract force. The French military reserve plays not just a symbolic but also a purposive role, although essentially limited to the national territory.
For more details see M. Mifsud, La nation française en armes: l’officier de l’armée de Terre, hier, aujourd’hui, demain (PhD thesis, Montpellier 3, 1989); ‘‘Les Réserves,’’ La Revue Historique des Armées 174, 1 (1989): 1-97.
2.
Col. A. Huyon, ‘‘Les francs-archers: un exemple de réserve active,’’ in ‘‘Les réserves,’’La Revue Historique des Armées174, 1 ( 1989): 3-11.
3.
André Martel, ‘‘Le métier militaire en France (1688-1954),’’ in La spécificité militaire en France, ed. Bernard Boëne (Paris , Armand Colin, 1990), 12-21.
4.
Eugen Weber, La France de nos aïeux. La fin des terroirs. Les imaginaires et la politique au XIXe siècle, Paris, fayard, coll., ‘‘Les indispensables de l’Histoire’’ (2005), 857.
5.
Jean-Charles Jauffret, ‘‘Parlement, gouvernement, commandement: l’armée de métier sous la 3e République, 1871-1914’’ (PhD thesis, Vincennes, 1987), 1355.
6.
Mohamed Madoui , ‘‘Les officiers de réserve de service d’état-major: logiques d’engagement et identité militaire,’’ in Les Champs de Mars, Cahiers du centre d’études en sciences sociales de la défense, La documentation française, 12, deuxième semestre (2002), 125; Mohamed Madoui, Sociologie des officiers de reserve spécialistes d’état-major (Paris: L’Harmattan, 2007).
7.
The French Air Force appeared in 1912 as a Land Forces component and as an autonomous force in 1934.
8.
André Corvisier, Histoire militaire de le France Tome 4: De 1940 à nos jours (Presses universitaires de France, collection Quadrige, 1997), 507. All quotations were translated by the author.
9.
In 1954, there were 644 reservist second lieutenants and probationary second lieutenants in Algeria; this number increased tenfold in 1962 (7,044). All in all 26,000 reserve officers served in Algeria experiencing a psychological war, and 150 of them died. Also see Raoul Girardet, La crise militaire française, 1945-1962. Aspects sociologiques et idéologiques (Paris: Armand Colin, 1964).
10.
Corvisier, Histoire militaire, 508.
11.
Ibid., 510.
12.
The main motives and reasons for the professionalization of the French armies were based on the evolution of the geostrategic context (the collapse of the Soviet Union, the disappearance of the Warsaw Pact and of a threat considered of major importance, an increase in the number of crises of new natures), on an internal and political context of control over public finances, on an intention to modernize the forces (efficient professional armies, fully equipped and rapidly deployable, and in line with a European approach), on different observations and past crises (a nonegalitarian military service, a ten-month service inadequate for the pertinent use of draftees during their new missions, lack of responsiveness during the Gulf War, drastic financial cuts, etc.). Also see Theodore Caplow and Pascal Vennesson, Sociologie militaire (Paris: Armand Colin, 2000). The president alone decided to professionalize the armies. The prime minister was not consulted, and Parliament was presented with a fait accompli. J. Chirac gave three-month time to a strategic committee to produce the model for a professional army: a first draft that consisted of a mixed system of conscription and professionalization was handed in to the president. He threw it out and demanded a wholly professional format, against the advice of many military leaders. In the end there was no debate, neither political nor within French society itself, on this reform of the French military affairs.
13.
‘‘Armies with reduced strength but always ready for action, strongly rationalized, where men are not interchangeable.’’Morris Janowitz , The Professional Soldier: A Social and Political Portrait (Glencoe, IL: Free Press , 1960/1971); and ‘‘The Decline of the Mass Army,’’Military Review52 (1972): 10-18.
14.
See Magazine de l’armée de Terre on the reserve, http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7fxvp_mag-terre-n27-sur-la-rserve-de-larm_news .
15.
Since the cold war and according to the period, the necessity of adaptation of the reserve force has resulted in different arguments (change of values, delegitimation of the conscript system, economical reasons, etc.). J. G. Bachman, J. D. Blair, and D. R. Segal, The All-Volunteer Force: A Study of Ideology in the Military (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1977); A. Biderman, ‘‘What Is Military?’’ in The Draft: A Handbook of Facts and Alternatives, ed. S. Tax (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1967), 122-37; B. Boëne, ‘‘How Unique Should the Military Be? A Review of Representative Literature and Outline of a Synthetic Formulation,’’ Archives européennes de sociologie 31, 1 (1990): 3-59; B. Boëne and C. Dandeker, eds., Les armées en Europe (Paris: la découverte, 1998); B. Boëne and M.-L. Martin, eds., Conscription et armée de métier (Paris: FEDN/La Documentation Française, 1991); J. Burk, ‘‘The Decline of Mass Armed Forces and Compulsory Military Service,’’ Defense Analysis 8 (1992): 45-49; K. Haltiner, ‘‘The Decline of the European Mass Armies,’’ in Handbook of the Sociology of the Military, ed. G. Caforio (New York, Kluwer, 2003), 361-84; G. Harries-Jenkins, ‘‘Le cas britannique: trois décennies d’armée de métier,’’ in Boëne and Martin, Conscription et armée de métier, 70-95; C. Kelleher, ‘‘Mass Armies in the 1970s: The Debate in Western Europe,’’ Armed Forces & Society 5, 1 (1978): 3-30; A. King, ‘‘The Postfordist Military,’’ Journal of Political and Military Sociology 34, 2 (2006): 359-74; R. H. Kohn, ‘‘Out of Control: The Crisis in Civil-Military Relations,’’ National Interest 35 (1994): 3-17; A. Martel, ‘‘L’esprit de défense à l’épreuve des ruptures: perspectives historiques,’’ Actes du colloque des 2 et 3 avril 1997, L’esprit de défense à l’épreuve des ruptures (Paris: Les documents du C2SD, 1998); M.-L. Martin, ‘‘Conscription and the Decline of the Mass Army in France, 1960-1975,’’ Armed Forces & Society 4 (1977): 355-406; M.-L. Martin, ‘‘Le déclin de l’armée de masse en France. Note sur quelques paramètres organisationnels,’’ Revue Française de Sociologie 22, 1 (1981): 87- 116; C. Moskos, ‘‘From Institution to Occupation: Trends in Military Organization,’’ Armed Forces & Society 4 (1977): 41-50; D. R. Segal, J. Blair, F. Newport, and S. Stephens, ‘‘Convergence, Isomorphism and Interdependence at the Civil-Military Interface,’’ Journal of Political and Military Sociology 2 (1974): 157-72; H. Strachan, ed., The British Army: Manpower and Society into the 21st Century (London: Frank Cass, 2000); J. Van Doorn, The Soldier and Social Change (Beverly Hills, CA: Sage, 1975).
16.
Martin, ‘‘Conscription and the Decline’’; Boëne and Martin, Conscription et armée de métier, 410.
17.
Les Réservistes Militaires, Secrétaire général du Conseil Supérieur de la Réserve Militaire, La Documentation française, collection ‘‘Petits Guides de la Défense,’’ 2007; Les réservistes militaires, Rapport d’évaluation 2007, Ministère de la Défense, Conseil supérieur de la réserve militaire, juillet 2008; Bilan social 2007, Ministère de la Défense, Observatoire social de la défense, 121-28; ‘‘Rapport d’évaluation de l’état de la réserve militaire’’ (Ministère de la défense, Conseil supérieur de la réserve militaire, années 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2007).
18.
All figures and data are issued by the Conseil Supérieur de la Réserve Militaire.
19.
The operational reserve is open to any candidate, man or woman, with or without a military past, of French nationality or a former foreign enlisted person who served in the Foreign Legion, seventeen years old at least, medically fit for service, having done his or her military service (having been registered and having taken part in the ‘‘Journée d’Appel à la Préparation de la Défense’’-the Call for the Defense preparation day-for those born after 1978), not sentenced to the loss of one’s civic rights or to the ban of working in the civil service, not condemned to a criminal sentence, and not discharged or reduced to a lower grade. The age limit is fifty years old, but for soldiers it is the same as the one for active components, plus five years for officers and noncommissioned officers.
20.
By statutory order, full or partial mobilization or requisitions in the case of an impending threat on a part of the territory, a sector of the national life, or a part of the population, exceptional circumstances. The texts specify that they can be called up for a five-day period at the most during their five-year availability obligation.
21.
A recent call-up test showed that only 10 percent of the forty thousand individuals concerned paid heed to this appeal!
22.
See http://www.defense.gouv.fr/reserves.
23.
Since the professionalization and the suspension of military service, a ‘‘parcours citoyen’’ was organized for the French youth, boys and girls. This new concept is composed of three stages: teaching the principles of organization of the national and European defense during high school, the registration of young people from the age of sixteen, and attendance to the Journée d’Appel à la Préparation de la Défense. This day enables the youth to become aware of the issues of citizenship and devoir de mémoire, to inform them about the defense’s stakes, to let them know about the different military activities, to advise problem pupils, and to establish some invaluable sanitary statistics or other on the French youth.
24.
The reservist status could be a privileged one for some researchers. It can make it easier for them to reach their field of study, especially operational ones.
25.
‘‘Les réservistes sous ESR aujourd’hui-Repères socio-démographiques’’ (Ministère de la défense, Secrétariat général pour l’administration, Observatoire social de la défense, mai 2005).
26.
On June 27, 2001, under the pressure of the ‘‘Sans Nous’’ (Without Us), a discontent movement of the last young draftees, the French cabinet (Conseil des Ministres) made a statutory order to end conscription, advancing the end of the transitional period of nearly one year. The draftees already in the army were all discharged on November 30, 2001, each draft serving a month less than the draft before. The last conscientious objectors were discharged in July 2002.
27.
Interview with senior army official in charge of reservist management, January 18, 2010. All interviews were conducted in confidentiality and the names of interviewees are withheld by mutual agreement.
28.
‘‘La notoriété, l’image et l’attractivité de la réserve opérationnelle auprès des français de 18 à 39 ans’’ (Ministère de la défense, Secrétariat Général pour l’Administration, Observatoire Social de la défense, 2003), 41.
29.
Ibid., 24.
30.
Ibid.
31.
To get a critical approach of this concept you can read Claude Weber, ‘‘Armed Forces, Nation and Military Officers: France at the crossroad?’’ in New Directions in Military Sociology, ed. Eric Ouellet (Whitby, Ontario: De Sitter, 2005), 209-29.
32.
Wearing a lapel pin enables one to distinguish a citizen reservist, but in the Navy some wear a uniform. This fact produces reflections as to the homogenization of practices.
33.
http://www.reserves.terre.defense.gouv.fr.
34.
See http://www.defense.gouv.fr/reserves.
35.
B. Boëne , ‘‘La professionnalisation des armées: contexte et raisons, impact fonctionnel et sociopolitique,’’Revue Française de Sociologie44 ( 2003): 647-93.
36.
Total Force Policy.
37.
See http://www.cdef.terre.defense.gouv.fr/publications/doctrine .
38.
The plan Vigipirate is a security device designed to prevent threats or to respond to terrorist activities. It has a four-tier warning net and is visible every day as soldiers and reservists patrol public places (stations, airports, etc.).
39.
http://www.defense.gouv.fr/livre_blanc.
40.
‘‘La notoriété, l’image et l’attractivité,’’5.
41.
See ‘‘Rapport d’évaluation de l’état de la réserve militaire’’ (Ministère de la Défense, Conseil Supérieur de la Réserve Militaire, année 2007, juillet 2008).
42.
The institutional speech is progressively taken into account-all commanding officers consider and reward their reservists as expected nowadays. Yet its promotion remains imperfect. As an example, the reservist national day in 2009 took place on May 8; commemorations of the Allies’ victory during the Second World War completely obscured the development of the reservists issue. In front of war memorials of every French town or village that day, there was no reference to it in the agenda, the latest being set by a secretary of state who was himself a reserve colonel.
43.
The reserve is part of the seven priorities announced by the Chief of Staff of the Land Force.
44.
‘‘Rapport sur les employeurs et la défense’’ (Ministère de la défense, Observatoire social de la défense, juin 2004).
45.
Other logics similar to that of gap (examples in the political class) are born from the abolition of the military service: P. D. Feaver, R. H. Kohn, and L. P. Cohn, Soldiers and Civilians: The Civil-Military Gap and American National Security (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2001); D. Feaver, ‘‘An American Crisis in Civil-Military Relations?’’ Tocqueville Review 17, 1 (1996): 159-82; T. E. Ricks, ‘‘The Widening Gap between the Military and Society,’’ Atlantic Monthly, July 1997, 66-78.
46.
The presence of reservists varies according to the sectors of activity, but the highest proportion is found in logistics and transportation (9 percent) and the lowest in industry (4 percent).
47.
See http://www.defense.gouv.fr/reserves.
48.
In the past the same issues arose when draftees were sent on overseas missions.
49.
Poll carried out from January 20 to January 22, 2010; see http.ifop.com.
