Defence Research Network: Problematic quick fixes for Africa’s (Counter)Insurgencies

Sorina Toltica‘s new blog post for the Defence Research Network discusses the challenges of countering today’s insurgencies in Mali, Sahel and other regions of the African continent. It argues that complex conflicts require more than just strong borders, and careful consideration needs to be given in the future to the way that both military and development solutions contribute to both short- and long-term local dynamics.

Read the blog post on the Defence Research Network’s website.

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This month’s newsletter on counterinsurgency can be accessed here.

The Defence Research Network is an interdisciplinary network of Masters, PhD and Early Career Researchers focused on defence, security and military topics in relation to policy, strategy, history, culture and society. 

 

 

Overcoming Area Studies’ Policy-Relevant Research Problem: The Case of the Sahel

Abstract

Despite seven years of external military interventions to counter violent extremism, the security situation in the Sahel continues to deteriorate. Hard military approaches
predominate in the region despite widespread recognition amongst Sahel specialists that the militarisation of the Sahel may actually be getting in the way of the search for a long-term
political solution. This raises a number of questions that are important for Area Studies specialists: what type of information is brought into policymaking? Who produces it? How is
it processed and what influence does it have? How does, or should, Area Studies fit within that? This research note argues that analysis undertaken by area specialists is indispensable
in order to understand the complex nature of the various interlocking armed conflicts in the western Sahel. It suggests however that the type of thick description that characterises much
area studies analysis can sometimes be too dense and too specific to be of immediate use to policymakers. Drawing on insights from Comparative Area Studies (intra-regional and crossregional
comparison in particular), it explores how Area Studies could contribute more effectively to policy relevant research on the Sahel.

Chafer, T., Stoddard, E. and Toltica, S., 2020. Overcoming Area Studies’ Policy-Relevant Research Problem: The Case of the Sahel. New Area Studies, 1(1), pp.25–40.

Read open access journal article here