Governance and Security in the Sahel
This conference is the third annual meeting of the Northwestern University-Sciences Po Research Project on Security and Governance in the Sahel, run by Roland Marchal and Rachel Beatty Riedl. It will bring together experts of West Africa and the Sahel specifically to shed light on the implications of elections, radicalization, and rising threats from jihadi militants and other armed conflict actors.This tripartite political phenomenon has significant consequences for governance and security in the region and beyond.
The conference will address the practice and significance of multiparty elections in contexts of competitive authoritarian regimes, post-intervention transitions, and governance reforms – particularly in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Senegal. We will also assess logics of radicalization, consequences for security strategies, and logics of military engagement both for state actors and international forces. Finally, we assess the distinct threats arising from Jihadi groups in the region, state militarization, and migrant trajectories.
Introduction: Rachel Beatty Riedl
Panel I. Radicalization: Conceptual Deconstruction, Examples, and Implications
Chair: Sandrine Perrot, Sciences Po-CERI
Roland Marchal, Sciences Po-CERI / CNRS : Rethinking radicalization: an African perspective
Paul Lubeck, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies: The Political Demography of Radicalism among Muslim Youth in the Northern States of Nigeria.
Cécile Petitdemange, Université de Gènève-EHESS : Identifier et catégoriser : perspectives tchadiennes sur la radicalisation.
Panel II. Governance, Elections and Political Recalibrations
Chair: Richard Banegas, Sciences Po-CERI
Rachel Beatty Riedl, Northwestern University: Autocratization in the Sahel? Modes of Regime Transition in Comparative Perspective.
Juliet Sorensen, Northwestern University (TBD)
Joseph Brunet-Jailly, Sciences Po: Préparation, réalisation et suites de l'élection présidentielle du 29 juillet 2018.
Panel III. Conflict and Armed Actors
Chair: Roland Marchal, Sciences Po-CERI
Marina Henke and Jules Villa, Northwestern and Sciences Po: Why did NATO Intervene in Libya? Connecting Micro and Macro-level Drivers.
Matthieu Pellerin, IFRI & Center for Humanitarian Dialogue: Dynamiques de formation des groupes armés au Sahel.
Yvan Guichoua, University of Kent: Jihadis' Use of Force in Northern Mali. Norm Formation and Civilian Agency
Vincent Foucher, IEP Bordeaux: La province Afrique de l'Ouest de l'Etat islamique: émergence et contradictions d'une nouvelle économie politique du djihad.
Denis Tull, IRSEM : Intervention and its Discontents: The Uneasy Partnership Between Mali and the United Nations Stabilization Mission (Minusma)
Conclusion de la journée : Roland Marchal
Responsables scientifiques: Roland Marchal et Rachel Beatty Riedl
