Upcoming Symposium: Identity and Ideology in the Sahelian Jihads
Long a peaceful—if poor and underdeveloped—region, the Sahel has tragically become the epicenter of militant Islamist activity in Africa since the collapse of Mali in 2012. In the crucible of a facilitating international environment and domestic state weakness, violent extremist groups have proliferated, splintered, and sought affiliations and support from elsewhere in the Muslim world. As a result, there is an often-confusing array of groups and names at any given moment, at times making common cause but also fighting among themselves. The two main jihadi branches in the Sahel are largely local affiliates of Al-Qaeda and of the Islamic State, respectively—the al-Qaeda-affiliated Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (Jama’at Nusrat l-Islam wal-Muslimin, JNIM), and the Islamic State, West Africa Province (ISWAP)—although the permutations and relations among these are shaped by local contexts.
Now in their second decade, there are still many more questions than answers about the drivers of the Sahelian jihads. As Luca Raineri has noted, “While jihadism appears to be on the rise in Africa, the explanations of violent extremist groups’ capacity to foment jihadi insurgencies and mobilize recruits remain poorly understood.” In particular, the relative importance of identities and of ideologies in motivating jihadi activity remains very poorly understood, and many key questions remain:
How do considerations of ethnicity or of social hierarchy play into the dynamics of jihadi groups? Are these groups sometimes in effect “ethnic militias”? What is the relative importance of material and secular grievances versus religious ideologies in motivating people to join and participate in jihadi activity? How voluntary is such adhesion? What is the role of coercion or force as motivators for joining? What is the relationship between jihadi groups and criminal networks of drug trafficking or smuggling? What explains the varying relations among jihadi groups with local populations? When and why are jihadis seen as the best alternative (or as the lesser of two evils) by locals?
This symposium will bring together four experts with deep knowledge and research experience on Sahelian jihadi movements to address these and related questions about the forces driving these movements.