Security Provision and Counterterrorism in the Sahel

Abstract

This chapter discusses the politics of security provision and counterterrorism in the Sahel, in light of the main security challenges facing the region: poverty and structural food insecurity, economic and social grievances, organized crime, protracted crisis derived from territorial and ethnic competition, and terrorism and violent radicalization. It emphasizes the concept of human security against the current background of international policies and academic analysis that favors realpolitik, and it focuses on the characteristics of the contemporary state in this part of Africa to explain both the security challenges and the provision of security. The fragility of institutions and the authoritarian trends observed in Sahelian states affect their capacity and legitimacy. The chapter discusses these two aspects in detail, hinting at paths for security sector reform both by the countries and by regional initiatives such as the G5 Sahel.