Event

 

Once a region that rarely featured in debates about global security, the Sahel has become increasingly topical as it confronts the international community with intertwined challenges related to contested statehood, jihadist insurgencies and regime instability.

Recent events in Mali and Burkina Faso has added yet another dimension to the Sahel crisis, with the return of the military in the political arena and the surge in popular contestations against France forces and European-supported counter-insurgency devices, such as Operations Barkhane and Takouba. This has taken place in lieu of a gradual diversification of military alliances, with Russia and the Wagner Group being new actors in the re-design of alliances and alligencies.

This webinar aims at combining different perspectives to explore the contours of political orders in the Sahel. It focuses on the trajectory of regional security and multi-level governance over the past decade, addressing the challenges of state fragility and societal resilience in the context of increasing external intervention and growing international rivalry.

Scholars from NUPI and the Alliance for Rebuilding Governance in Africa (ARGA) based in the Sahel will discuss how current events fit with the findings of the FRAGVENT-project, and the implications this has for broader and deeper transformations of Sahelian political order. The discussion will be followed by a Q & A session with the audience.

Roundtable participants

Kari M. Osland, Senior Research Fellow, NUPI

Alessio Iocchi, Senior Research Fellow, NUPI

Abdoul Wahab Cissé, Senior Research Fellow, ARGA

Moderator is Morten Bøås, Research Professor, NUPI

This webinar marks the end of the FRAGVENT-project that has been funded by the Norwegian Research Council (project number 274745). Click here for more information about the project as well as publications.