Niger falls back off track
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6027798 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Sebastian Elischer (0000-0002-0535-8226), Lisa Mueller (0000-0003-3524-3371, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2019 |
| Volume | 118 |
| Issue | 471 |
| Pages | 392-406 |
| Publication date | 2019-04-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | African Affairs (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0001-9909 • E-ISSN: 1468-2621 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/afraf/ady066 |
| OpenAlex | W2906465743 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 13 |
In 2001, scholars identified a promising democratic transition in the Republic of Niger, following a coup d’état in 1999. Elites were ‘righting their political ship and getting their economy in order’. Political liberties were ‘generally assured’.1 However, Niger’s political trajectory has dashed these expectations. Elected in 2001, Nigerien president Mamadou Tandja would go on to provoke a constitutional crisis in 2009 and a military coup that unseated him in 2010. That coup was the third since Niger’s transition to multiparty democracy in 1991. Tandja’s successor, Mahamadou Issoufou, took office in 2011. Initially he enjoyed a strong democratic mandate but later used the war on terror in the greater Sahara as a red herring to curry international favour while cracking down on civil society. The country is seeing a spike in citizen protests, seemingly driven by limited economic mobility.2 By most measures, Niger is the least developed country in the world. It consistently ranks last in terms of the Human Development Index, a composite measure of income, life expectancy, and education. Its semiarid climate, harsh in normal times, becomes more vulnerable to drought as global warming parches fertile land and creates food shortages. Since 2001, thousands of Nigerien children have died from malnutrition despite a roughly 5 per cent economic growth rate.3 Tandja and Issoufou vowed to remedy these chronic problems and to restore democracy. Both presidents reneged spectacularly on that pledge.
Democracy · Development economics · Economics · Human rights · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · International Development and Aid · Law
Routes to Reform
Forced Withdrawal
Testing multi‐stakeholder dialogue for better local governance in Niger
Exploring the socioeconomic and political implications of recurrent coup d’etat in Africa and their impact on global health
Towards praetorian-led electoral authoritarianism? Examining the post-coup transitions in francophone Africa
Niger – Europe’s border guard? Limits to the externalization of the European Union’s migration policy
Salafism and Political Order in Africa
Échec ou succès? Les stratégies de subversion et la gouvernance municipale au Niger
When ‘’'limited statehood' becomes an asset. Fighting terrorism, migration and the consequences of 'Western' economic and military support to the Sahel
Outside‐in Politicization of EU–Western Africa Relations
The would-be autocrats’ toolkit
What does the population in Niger think about a military government
Electoral contests in the aftermath of military coups
| Unique citing works | 13 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2,17 |
| Citation span | 2020 - 2026 (7) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 13 |