The New Narrative of International Terrorism in Africa: Answers and Impact
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14422/cir.i13.y2018.003Keywords:
Sub-Saharan Africa, international terrorism, anti-terrorism strategiesAbstract
Under the “new wars” paradigm, contemporary armed conflicts in the African continent have been stripped of their political and ideological dimension, and the motivations of the actors involved have been reduced to economic greed and identity rivalries. After the attacks of 9/11, a narrative has appeared focusing on extremist violence and international terrorism in the African continent. This diagnosis has triggered the deployment in different parts of the continent of different antiterrorist strategies, both regional and international. In the present article we will draw a map of this extremist violence, present nowadays in some regions of the continent, along with the anti-terrorist strategies deployed, in order to analyse their impact, to validate or deny the diagnosis of this narrative and to confront it to other views.Downloads
References
Abbink, J., de Bruijn, M., y Van Walraven, K. (Eds.). (2008). A propósito de resistir. Repensar la insurgencia en África. Barcelona: Oozebap.
Africa Center for Strategic Studies. (2018). More Activity but Fewer Fatalities Linked to African Militant Islamist Groups in 2017. Recuperado de https://africacenter.org/spotlight/activity-fewer-fatalities-linked-african-militant-islamist-groups-2017/
Africa Center for Strategic Studies. (2017). ISIS’s Future in Africa after Iraq and Syria. Recuperado de http://africacenter.org/spotlight/isis-future-africa-iraq-syria/
Amnesty International. (2016). Nigeria: ‘Bullets were raining everywhere. Recuperado de https://www.amnesty.org.nz/nigeria-bullets-were-raining-everywhere
Amnesty International. (2015). Stars on their shoulders. Blood on their hands. War crimes committed by the Nigerian military. Recuperado de http://www.amnestyusa.org/research/reports/stars-on-their-shoulders-blood-on-their-hands-war-crimes-committed-by-thenigerian-military
Bøås, M., & Dunn, K. C. (Ed.). (2007). African Guerrillas. Raging Against the Machine. Lynne Rienner Publishers. Londres: Boulder.
Boeke, S. (2016). Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb: Terrorism, insurgency, or organized crime? Small Wars & Insurgencies, 27(5), 914-936. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09592318.2016.1208280
Bogorad, O. (2016). Local Networks Key to AQMI´s West African Expansion. IPI Global Observatory. Recuperado de https://theglobalobservatory.org/2016/04/al-qaeda-islamicmaghreb-grand-bassam/
Botha, A. (2008). Terrorism in the Maghreb. Institute for Security Studies, 144.
Bruce, G. (2013). Definition of Terrorism Social and Political Effects. Journal of Military and Veterans’ Health, 21(2), 26-30.
Burke, J. (2016). Isis an al-Qaida turf wars in Africa may push fragile states to breaking point. The Guardian. Recuperado de https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/oct/06/isis-al-qaida-turf-wars-africa-may-push-fragile-states-to-breaking-point
Chauzal, G., & Van Damme, T. (2015). The roots of Mali’s conflict. Moving beyond the 2012 crisis. Clingendael. Recuperado de https://www.clingendael.nl/pub/2015/the_roots_of_malis_conflict/
Cilliers, J. (2015a). Violent Islamist Extremism and Terror in Africa. Institute for Security Studies, 286.
Cilliers, J. (2015b). ¿Futuro (Im)Perfecto? Un mapa de los conflictos, la violencia y el extremismo en África. Institute for Security Studies, 287.
Cilliers, J. (2003). Terrorism and Africa. African Security Review, 12(4), 91-103. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10246029.2003.9627255
Clapham, C. (Ed.). (1998). African Guerrillas. Oxford: James Currey, Ltd. Indiana University Press y Fountain Publishers.
Collier, P., & Hoeffler, A. (2004). Greed and Grievance in Civil War. Oxford Economic Papers, 56(4), 563-595. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oep/gpf064
John, J. di. (2010). The Concept, Causes and Consequences of Failed States: A Critical Review of the Literature and Agenda for Research with Specific Reference to Sub-Saharan Africa. European Journal of Development Research, (22), 10-30. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/ejdr.2009.44
Dowd, C. (2015a). Grievances, governance and Islamist violence in sub-Saharan African. Journal of Modern African Studies, 53(4), 505-531. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022278X15000737
Dowd, C. (2015b). Cultural and Religious Demography and Violent Islamist Groups in Africa. Political Geography, (45), 11-21. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2014.09.006
Du Plessis, A., & Allison, S. (2017). How Africa can win the war on islamist militants. Newsweek. https://www.newsweek.com/africa-terrorism-islamist-boko-haram-al-shabab-aqim-569560
Duffield, M. (2001). Las nuevas guerras en un mundo global. La convergencia entre desarrollo y seguridad. Madrid: Los Libros de la Catarata.
Escola de Cultura de Pau. (2017). ¡Alerta 2016! Informe sobre conflictos armados, derechos humanos y construcción de paz. Barcelona: Editorial Icaria.
Filiu, J.-P. (2009). Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb: Algerian Challenge or Global Threat? Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Washington, DC. Recuperado de http://carnegieendowment.org/files/al-qaeda_islamic_maghreb.pdf
Forest, J., & Giroux, J. (2011). Articles Terrorism and Political Violence in Africa: Contemporary Trends in a Shifting Terrain. Perspectives on terrorism, 5(3-4), 5-17.
Global Terrorism Database. National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism. University of Maryland. Recuperado de www.start.umd.edu/gtd
Harmon, S. (2015). Securitization Initiatives in the Sahara-Sahel Region in the Twenty-first Century. African Security, 8(4), 227-248. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/19392206.2015.1100503
Herbst, J., & Mills, G. (2003). Africa and the war on terror. South African Journal of International Affairs, 10(2). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10220460309545425
Huntington, S. P. (1993). The clash of civilizations. Foreign Affairs, 72(3). DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/20045621
International Crisis Group. (2016a). Exploiting Disorder: Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. Crisis Group. Special Report 1, Jihad in Modern Conflict. Recuperado de https://www.crisisgroup.org/global/exploiting-disorder-al-qaeda-and-islamic-state
International Crisis Group. (2016b). Nigeria: The challenge of Military Reform. Africa Report, 237.
Isaacman, A. (1977). Social Banditry in Zimbabwe (Rhodesia) and Mozambique, 1894-1907: An Expression of Early Peasant Protest. Journal of Southern African Studies, 4(1), 1-30. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03057077708707977
Kaldor, M. (2001). Las Nuevas Guerras. La violencia organizada en la era global. Barcelona: Tusquets Editores.
Kaplan, R. (1994). The Coming Anarchy. How scarcity, crime, overpopulation, tribalism, and disease are rapidly destroying the social fabric of our planet. The Atlantic Monthly, February.
Keller, E. J. (1973). A Twentieth Century Model: The Mau Mau Transformation from Social Banditry to Social Rebellion. Kenya Historical Review, (1), 189-205.
Kepel, G. (2000). La yihad. Expansión y declive del islamismo. Barcelona: Ediciones Península.
Laub, Z., & Masters, J. (2015). Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQMI). Council on Foreign Relations. CFR Backgrounders.
Maïga, I., & Assanvo, W. (2017). Mali´s jihadist merger: desperate or dangerous? Institute for Security Studies.
Marchal, R. (2012). Boko Haram and the resilience of militant Islam in northern Nigeria. NOREF Report, Nordic International Support Foundation.
Mazrui, A. (1985). The third world and international terrorism: Preliminary reflections. Third World Quarterly, 7(2), 348-364. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01436598508419842
Melo, P. A. (2010). In search of new wars: The debate about a transformation of war. European Journal of International Relations, 16. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1354066109350053
Milliken, J., & Krause, K. (2002). State Failure, State Collapse, and State Reconstruction: Concepts, Lessons and Strategies. Development & Change, 3(5), 753-774. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-7660.t01-1-00247
Mueller, J. (2006). Overblown: How Politicians and the Terrorism Industry Inflate National Security Threats, and Why We Believe Them. Nueva York: Free Press.
Newman, E. (2007). Weak States, State Failure, and Terrorism. Terrorism and Political Violence, 19, 463-88. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09546550701590636
Núñez Villaverde, J. A., Hageraats, B., & Kotomska, M. (2009). Terrorismo internacional en África. La construcción de una amenaza en el Sahel. Madrid: Ediciones Catarata.
OAU, Convention on the Prevention and Combating of Terrorism, artículos 1.3 y 3.
Østebø, T. (2012). Islamic Militancy in Africa. Africa Security Brief, Africa Center for Strategic Studies, 23. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21236/ADA567188
Rapoport, D. C. (Ed.). (2006). Terrorism. Critical Concepts in Political Science. Routledge.
Rapoport, D. C. (2002). The Four Waves of Rebel Terror and September 11. Anthropoetics-The Journal of Generative Anthropology, VIII(1).
Reno, W. (2011). Warfare in independent Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511993428
Ruiz-Giménez Arrieta, I. (Ed.). (2012). Más allá de la barbarie y la codicia. Historia y política en las guerras africanas. Barcelona: Edicions Bellaterra.
Rye Olsen, G. (2015). ‘Great power’ intervention in African armed conflicts. Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 28(2), 229-245. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09557571.2013.867299
Schmid, A. P. (2004). Frameworks for conceptualising Terrorism. Terrorism and Political Violence, 16(2). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09546550490483134
Schmid, A. P., Jongman, A. J., Stohl, M., Brand, J., Fleming, P. A., Poel, A. van der, & Thijsse, R. (1988). Political terrorism: A new guide to actors, authors, concepts, data bases, theories and literature. Transaction Books New Brunswick, NJ.
Sharif, T. A., & Richards, J. (2016). Towards a continental strategy for countering violent extremism in Africa. Global Peace Operations Review, Annual Compilation. Recuperado de http://peaceoperationsreview.org/thematic-essays/towards-a-continental-strategy-forcountering-violent-extremism-in-africa/
Siegle, J., & Williams, W. (2017). ISIS in Africa: implications from Syria and Iraq. Africa Center for Strategic Studies y National Defense university.
The Institute for Security Studies. (2016). Mali’s young ‘jihadists’. Fuelled by faith or circumstance? ISS Policy Brief, (89). Recuperado de https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/policybrief89-eng-v3.pdf
The Week UK. (2015). Islamic State, Daesh or Isis: the dilema of naming the militants. 13 de julio de 2015. Recuperado de http://www.theweek.co.uk/islamic-state/62422/islamicstate-daesh-or-isis-the-dilemma-of-naming-the-extremists
Tilly, C. (2004). Terror, Terrorism, Terrorist. Sociological Theory, 22(1), 5-13. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9558.2004.00200.x
Turse, N. (2015). Tomorrow´s Battlefield. US Proxy Wars and Secret Ops in Africa. Chicago: Haymarket Books.
Walraven, K. van, Bruijn, M. de, & Abbink, J. (Eds.). (2008). A propósito de resistir. Repensar la insurgencia en la historia africana. Barcelona: Oozebap.
Zulaika Irureta, J. (2016). El mapa y el territorio: Cuestiones ontológicas y epistemológicas sobre el terrorismo. Relaciones Internacionales, (32), 15-32.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
The authors of articles published in Comillas Journal of International Relations retain the intellectual property rights over their works and grant the journal their distribution and public communication rights, consenting to their publication under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivates 4.0 Unported. Authors are encouraged to publish their work on the Internet (for example, on institutional or personal pages, repositories, etc.) respecting the conditions of this license and quoting appropriately the original source.