The End of Stability – How Burkina Faso Fell Apart

Dados Bibliográficos

ID8107044
AutoresViljar Haavik (0000-0001-5301-229X, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, autor correspondente), Morten Bøås (0000-0002-8417-5582, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs), Alessio Iocchi (0000-0002-1298-6706, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs)
Ano2022
Volume15
Fascículo4
Páginas317-339
Data de publicação2022-10-02
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoAfrican Security (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1939-2206 • E-ISSN: 1939-2214
EditoraTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/19392206.2022.2128614
OpenAlexW4301586093
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas20

Not so long-ago Burkina Faso was considered an “island” of stability in a conflict-prone part of Africa. This is not the case anymore as armed insurgencies have caused widespread insecurity. While spill-over effects from the conflict in Mali clearly play a role, we argue that the sudden demise of the rule and regime of Blaise Compaoré also is an important contributing factor. To decipher to what extent regime transition shaped the current state of affairs, we show that what kept Burkina Faso stable and out of the conflicts in the region was a “big man deep state” of formal and informal networks of security provisions. When this “deep state” vanished with the ousting of Compaoré and his allies, local security providers have sought new solutions, and this strengthened the role of self-defense militias but also led them to compete against each other, at times also violently. This provided fertile terrain for jihadi insurgents. Therefore, this paper is an attempt to provide a conceptual understanding of how weak rulers actually rule, how some succeed in preserving their rule for a lengthy period of time, and what can happen when they eventually fall

Cartography · Demise · Development economics · Economics · Fell · Geography · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Regime change · Security interest · Sociology · State (computer science · African Studies and Ethnography · Law · Medieval and Early Modern Justice