Explaining the Rise of Jihadism in Africa
The Crucial Case of the Islamic State of the Greater Sahara
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4086943 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Luca Raineri (0000-0001-6107-0019, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 34 |
| Issue | 8 |
| Pages | 1632-1646 |
| Publication date | 2022-11-17 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Terrorism and Political Violence (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0954-6553 • E-ISSN: 1556-1836 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/09546553.2020.1828078 |
| OpenAlex | W3094278303 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 15 |
While jihadism appears to be on the rise in Africa, the explanations of violent extremist groups’ capacity to foment jihadi insurgencies and mobilize recruits remain poorly understood. Recent studies have challenged the assumption that the rise of jihadism in Africa is the result of poor governance in areas of limited state reach, highlighting instead the significance of the (perception of) abuses perpetrated by state authorities. Looking at collective action and its structural determinants, it is rather state action—and not the lack thereof—that best explains the capacity of mobilization of jihadi insurgencies in African borderlands. In order to test this theory in a least-likely case, the article explores the genealogy and evolution of the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), mobilizing extensive qualitative evidence. Borrowing the analytical framework from civil war studies, it argues that the contentious political dynamics observed in Niger’s borderlands amount to a case of symmetric non-conventional warfare, where abuses perpetrated by state proxies trigger an escalation of homegrown terrorism. It therefore supplies a further specification of the theories investigating the complex interplay between the processes of jihadi mobilization/rebel governance and the practices of counter-terrorism in weak states
Civil society · Collective action · Corporate governance · Criminology · Development economics · Economics · Failed state · Geography · Ideology · Islam · Jihadism · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Terrorism · African Studies and Geopolitics · Law · Political Conflict and Governance · Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence
Governing through war
Satisfaction With The Status Quo
Mali
The state abandonment of the re-emergence of Indonesian Islamic State movements
The nature of peace
God, Grievance and Greed
Examining convergence and divergence in the fighting patterns of Islamic State-aligned jihadist groups in the wider Sahel
(Dis)utilities of Force in a Postcolonial Context
Speak of the devil and he shall appear’
Reiteration or reinvention? Jihadi governance and gender practices in the Sahel
Intercommunal violence, insurgency, and agropastoral conflict in the Lake Chad Basin region
Assessing the role of the United Nations in countering terrorism in Africa
Media Representation of Cultural Responses to Herdsmen-Farmers Conflicts in South West Nigeria
A regime biting its tail
Historical Memory Matters
| Citations per year | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2021 - 2026 (6) |
| Highly cited | No |