David Chuter worked for more than thirty years for the British government in the security area, with spells in international organizations and think tanks, and a three-and-a-half year spell on loan to the French Defence Ministry in Paris. He took early retirement in 2008, and is now an independent lecturer, author, translator and consultant based in Paris. He is Senior Research Fellow at Cranfield University’s Department of Management and Security, and a lecturer at Sciences Po in Paris. He has been involved in issues of African security for over twenty years, beginning with the defence and security transition in South Africa before 1994. Dr Chuter is the author of four books, and numerous essays on African security, conflict and development and similar subjects.