1,721,021 research outputs found
La crisi che non c’era: analisi dei fattori di radicalizzazione e mobilitazione jihadista in Sahel
No full textDa Bono Vox al Sahelistan: la faglia saheliana e le figure dell’eccezione nella geografia politica africana. Prospettive teoriche e metodologiche
No full textNell’epoca in cui le più importanti franchise globali del jihadismo insurrezionalista, al-Qaeda e Stato Islamico, sperimentano una ricollocazione strategica di cui l’Africa rappresenta la frontiera, questo volume si propone di offrire un’analisi approfondita, critica e multidisciplinare delle manifestazioni contemporanee del terrorismo di matrice jihadista in Africa, e delle complesse risposte elaborate in materia di controterrorismo. Il caso studio del Sahel offre un prisma privilegiato per lo studio di questi fenomeni. L’ancoraggio locale di dinamiche complesse riverberate sul piano transnazionale si presta infatti più agevolmente a un’indagine empirica rigorosa. In particolare, le contese politiche che investono il Sahel consentono di indagare la più vasta ridefinizione dei rapporti tra Nord e Sud Globali nell’epoca del dopo undici settembre, stretta fra Jihad Globale e Guerra Globale al Terrorismo. Prendendo le interconnesse dinamiche del terrorismo e del controterrorismo come punto di ingresso per la nostra esplorazione collettiva, il nostro intento è quello di districare e permettere di comprendere quanto sta avvenendo in un’Africa che, sfidando gli stereotipi interpretativi consueti, è oggi indiscutibilmente soggetta a una tumultuosa trasformazion
Datificazione della mobilità in Africa occidentale: un’etnografia della digitalizzazione nell’area prefrontaliera
No full textIntroduzione: Da Bono Vox al «Sahelistan»: la faglia saheliana e le figure dell’eccezione nella geografia politica africana. Prospettive teoriche e metodologiche
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The Politics of Geopolitics: Italy’s Engagement in the Sahel and the Geopolitical Imaginary of the Wider Mediterranean
No full textOver the past decade, Italy has considerably expanded its engagement in the Sahel region, by opening new embassies, increasing aid and participating in multi-lateral and bi-lateral military operations. The revitalisation of Italy’s commitment in the Sahel is framed as part of Rome’s projection in the ‘Wider Mediterranean’. Drawing on the lenses of critical geopolitics, the article investigates the geopolitical imaginary underpinning this framing, and its puzzling stretch to the landlocked Sahel region. We situate the notion of Wider Mediterranean on the background of Italy’s geopolitics tradition and foreign policy posture, and decrypt its contextualised meanings. We explore the hypothesis that the Wider Mediterranean does not entail a unitary worldview and strategy; rather, it amounts to a broad signifier which different actors tie to different geographic areas and security priorities, thereby paving the way to a cacophony of actions with sometimes contradictory outcomes. Deconstructing Italy’s geopolitical imaginary thus questions the punctualization of the state assumed by much critical geopolitics literature. Illustrating this, we show how Italy’s engagement with Mali, through the crafting of the Rome Declaration, highlights the challenges of reconciling Italy’s foreign policy, domestic security and strategic objectives in the Wider Mediterranean
Policy brief: Perceptions about the EU’s Crisis Response in Libya
Full text linkWithin the EU’s approach to crisis management, it is crucial to consider the point of view of all
stakeholders to ensure that the crisis response is in line with European commitments towards local
ownership and conflict sensitivity. This EUNPACK Policy Brief discusses the perceptions of those who
have been exposed to the EU’s responses to the crisis unfolding in Libya. It is based on the results
of a survey completed in the summer of 2017 by 228 respondents. It highlights, on the one hand,
that while the EU is the most widely-known international actor involved in crisis response in Libya,
the impact of its initiatives is less visible, thereby prompting a certain degree of dissatisfaction, if
not of scepticism. This reaction is particularly pronounced remarkable among ethnic minorities living
in peripheral regions. On the other hand, the EU is particularly praised for its initiatives in the fields
of humanitarian assistance and capacity building, targeting most notably the most vulnerable social
groups. To make sure that the EU’s crisis response in Libya achieves the highest degree of conflict
sensitivity, appropriateness and effectiveness, the EU should:
1. Pay greater attention to security sector reform (SSR) as a pillar of crisis response in Libya.
2. Avoid undermining the positive image of the EU’s humanitarian commitment by engaging in
contradictory policies.
3. Ensure that crisis-response initiatives are coherent with the needs of all Libyan social groups,
including ethnic minorities.
4. Improve the monitoring and evaluation of its crisis response towards achieving its stated goals.
5. Invest more resources in conflict-sensitive crisis response
Working Paper: The implementation of EU Crisis Response in Libya: Bridging theory and practice
Full text linkThis working paper explores how the EU substantiates its crisis response in Libya by focusing on local stakeholders’ perceptions and practices. Complementing EUNPACK’s study on the EU’s framing of the crisis in Libya (Ivaschenko-Stadnik et al. 2017) and our preliminary survey on local perceptions of EU crisis response (Loschi and Raineri 2017), the present paper provides an in-depth analysis of the output level and impact of these measures.
in Libya, the EU’s crisis response has come in for unprecedented levels of criticism. The securitisation of migration, and the framing of the latter as a crisis with destabilising potential, have led to the EU’s normative commitments being overlooked, if not abandoned, in spite of their relevance precisely in times of crisis. The shortcomings of the crisis response in Libya suggest that for the foreseeable future the European Union may face serious challenges if it wishes to be perceived as a credible actor inspired by “principled pragmatism” (European Commission 2016a), let alone as a “force for good” (European Commission 2003) in its foreign policy and in its neighbourhood
Resilience to What? EU Capacity-Building Missions in the Sahel
No full textThis chapter proposes an in-depth analysis of the three CSDP missions currently deployed in Mali and Niger, in order to shed light on the European initiatives for fostering resilience in the Sahel. Focusing on the security sector, the analysis considers the shared context of the origin of the missions, and it examines their evolution and their mixed performances. It suggests that the EU mainly conjugates resilience in terms of sector-specific, quick-impact measures of capacity-building targeting local states and security forces. Consequently, the EU tends to overestimate the size of external shocks while it underrates local fragilities, thereby undermining the potential impact of its efforts for stabilisation
Dalla War on Terror alla stabilizzazione: l’evoluzione delle dottrine internazionali di gestione dei conflitti nel laboratorio saheliano
No full textLe interconnesse dinamiche del terrorismo e del controterrorismo hanno contribuito a riplasmare il quadro politico e di sicurezza in tutto il Sahel fin dai primi anni 2000, quando l’area compresa tra il nord del Mali e il nord della Nigeria è stata inserita per la prima volta dal Dipartimento della Difesa (DoD) americano nella lista dei potenziali focolai di insurrezione jihadista sul continente africano. Nel corso dei successivi vent’anni, quest’area storicamente «periferica» dell’Africa Occidentale è passata dall’essere considerata il «secondo fronte africano» della Guerra Globale al Terrorismo – venendo dopo, per importanza strategica, la regione del Corno d’Africa – al trasformarsi nella nuova (e minacciosa) «frontiera meridionale» dell’Europ
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