ABSTRACT

This article examines the material-discursive assemblages at work in Security Force Assistance (SFA) programs. Departing from the idea that SFA follows a patron-client type relationship, or that it is normatively bounded, it argues that SFA is emergent and negotiated via epistemic practices. It identifies three sets of practices at work – i) identifying the epistemic object; 2) establishing boundaries of action; and 3) rendering visible the material nexus. The article draws on the case of SFA to Lebanon since 2006 to demonstrate how heterogeneous material elements, global discourses, and actors' interests and agendas are translated and stabilised in SFA programs.

摘要

本文考察了在安全部队援助 (SFA) 计划中发挥作用的材料-话语组合。与 SFA 遵循赞助人 - 客户类型关系，或者它是有规范界限的观点不同，它认为 SFA 是通过认知实践产生和协商的。它确定了三套工作实践——i）确定认知对象；2) 建立行动的界限；和 3) 渲染可见的材料关系。本文利用自 2006 年以来 SFA 到黎巴嫩的案例来展示异质性物质元素、全球话语以及参与者的利益和议程如何在 SFA 计划中得到转化和稳定。