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The Africa Center advances African security by expanding understanding, providing a trusted platform for dialogue, building enduring partnerships, and catalyzing strategic solutions.
Part 1: Identity Part 2: Faultlines Part 3: Extremism Part 4: Boko Haram Part 5: Strategies for combating extremism Part 6: Military professionalism Part 7: Maritime security Part 8: Governance Boko Haram emerged in 2002 in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State in Nigeria’s Northeast Region. Initially organized as a sect under the leadership of... Continue Reading
Stronger national, regional, and international political commitments are needed to reverse the worsening trend of maritime insecurity in the Gulf of Guinea.
Institutionalization of democratic norms in Africa’s militaries often lags behind advances made in civilian institutions and civil society.
Download this Security Brief as a PDF: English | Français | Português The increasingly internal nature of Africa’s security threats is placing ever greater pressures on Africa’s police forces. Yet severe resource and capacity limitations, combined with high levels of public distrust, leave most African police forces incapable of effectively addressing these expanding urban-based threats in... Continue Reading
Download this Security Brief as a PDF: English | Français | Português Africa is facing an increasingly menacing threat of cocaine trafficking that risks undermining its security structures, nascent democratic institutions, and development progress. Latin America has long faced similar challenges and its experience provides important lessons that can be applied before this expanding threat... Continue Reading
Foreign Aid and Democratization: Benin and Niger Compared By Mamoudou Gazibo, African Studies Review, 2005 Two West African states began the 1990s with newly formed democratic governments. By the close of the decade, Benin had further consolidated democracy while Niger experienced a series of destabilizing events culminating in a coup d’état. These differing trajectories are... Continue Reading
(See more recent readings on this topic here.) Elections in the Tshisekedi Era : A Bad Start? By Groupe d’étude sur le Congo and Ebuteli, October 31, 2022 The lessons of the controversial 2018 elections have seemingly not been learned, and numerous challenges remain as DRC prepares for elections in late 2023. The Electoral Commission... Continue Reading