Governance, Fragility and Insurgency in the Sahel

In this webinar, we presented the new International Spectator Special Issue, "Governance, Fragility and Insurgency in the Sahel: A Hybrid Political Order in the Making", guest-edited by Morten Bøås and Francesco Strazzari.

The special issue: https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rspe20/current

Once a region that rarely featured in debates about global security, the Sahel has become increasingly topical as it confronts the international community with intertwined challenges related to climate variability, poverty, food insecurity, population displacement transnational crime, contested statehood and jihadist insurgencies. Sahel is in fact a political order in the making, where extra-legal governance influences the nature of political competition and multiple threats challenges international stakeholders.

Program:

14:00 – Welcome Morten Bøås & Francesco Strazzari

14:10 – 8 minute presentations of the papers:

• Kari Osland & Henriette U. Erstad "The Fragility Dilemma and Divergent Security Complexes in the Sahel"

• Laura Berlingozzi & Ed Stoddard "Assessing Misaligned Counterinsurgency Practice in Niger and Nigeria"

• Bernardo Venturi & Nana Toure "The Great Illusion: Security Sector Reform in the Sahel"

• Edoardo Baldaro & Yida Seydou Diall "The End of the Sahelian Exception: Al-Qaeda and Islamic State Clash in Central Mali"

• Alessio Iocchi "The Dangers of Disconnection: Oscillations in Political Violence on Lake Chad"

• Luca Raineri "Gold Mining in the Sahara-Sahel: The Political Geography of State-making and Unmaking"

• Abdoul W. Cissé, Morten Bøås & Laouali Mahamane
"Explaining Violence in Tillabéri: Insurgent Appropriation of Local Grievances?"

15:20 – Q&A

15:55-16:00 – Summary of discussion

Due to technical issues, not all of the presenters were able to attend the webinar. We sincerely apologize for this.