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RECENT EVENTS
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ACADEMIC WORKS
Chapter Title: A HISTORY OF THE GENDARMERIE IN NIGER
Book Title: Policing the Frontier: An Ethnography of Two Worlds in Niger
Book Author(s): Mirco Göpfert
In some respects and from the perspective of many Nigerien gendarmes, the Gendarmerie Nigérienne seems to lack a history of its own. First, historians have never focused on the gendarmerie, not in Niger, rarely anywhere else in Africa.¹ Second, there are almost no archival sources available in Niger. The few available are fragmentary or inaccessible. Third, when talking about the history of their institution, gendarmes refer only to the history of the French gendarmerie, beginning with Napoleon, not to their own Nigerien path. Fourth, the number of gendarmes in Niger has more than tripled in two decades, so that at...
The impact of security force assistance in Niger: meddling with borders
Nina Wilén
International Affairs, Volume 98, Issue 4, July 2022, Pages 1405–1421, https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiac119 Published: 05 July 2022
How does Security Force Assistance (SFA) impact Niger's security sector and beyond? I draw on extensive fieldwork in Niger and identify and analyse two developments taking place in Niger's security sector: the development of an expanded Special Forces Command and the elaboration of multiple mobile hybrid units. I build upon, and contribute to, existing studies related to the politicization and securitization of borders in the Sahel and research discussing the blurring of borders between internal and external security forces. The aim is twofold: first, to unpack SFA efforts and effects through a focus on both geopolitical borders in Niger, and borders between and within corps and units in the security sector; and second, to contextualize and compare the developments in Niger's security sector with broader, global security trends. I find that both of the SFA projects constitute and feed into institutional games and inter-agency rivalry regarding task division, equipment and training. The overuse of the newly created Special Forces Command mirrors global trends of the latter as an ‘easy button to push’, while the multiplication of hybrid units to secure geopolitical borders reinforces the status and power of intermediary agencies that are at the interface between internal and external security forces. On an overarching level, the two trends of meddling with borders are found to be co-constituted by external and local actors who decide which developments that should be considered threats and how they should be addressed, questions that are deeply intertwined with power and control.
Analysing (In)formal Relations and Networks in Security Force Assistance: The Case of Niger
Nina Wilén
Pages 580-597 | Published online: 20 Sep 2021
Studies on Security Force Assistance (SFA) have hitherto been dominated by different iterations of the principal-agent perspective to explain relations between provider and recipient. Yet, while such frameworks aptly illustrate these dynamics from a macro perspective, they are inadequate when analysing the complexity of practices on the ground. To mitigate this short-coming, the present article uses a Social Network Analysis framework to provide an in-depth micro analysis of relations between different SFA providers and the recipient state: Niger, focusing on the Belgian Special Forces. Drawing on field observations and more than 40 interviews in Niger, the present study increases our understanding of how dynamic (in)formal social networks impact the development of SFA. It points to the importance of timing, contingency and individual encounters as central in the understanding of how SFA develops and at times strays from strategies.
The American way of war in Africa: the case of Niger
LTC Joseph Guido
Pages 176-199 | Received 06 Jan 2018, Accepted 25 Nov 2018, Published online: 25 Apr 2019
ABSTRACT
Increasing attention paid to US casualties in far-flung places such as Tongo Tongo, Niger, and headlines claiming ‘secret wars’ have fueled discussion about American military’s involvement in Africa. Though the continent has been a part of the American way of war since the beginnings of the US – consider the early combat actions of US Marines in Tripoli –, current African conflicts are challenging our understanding of war and approaches to winning it. This article examines the ways America seeks to achieve its ends in Africa with a particular focus upon the last 10 years of US counter-terrorism and stability operations in Niger and the Sahel Region. The author proposes unifying American, Allied, and partner efforts through a strategy of Active Containment.
‘I’ll take two.’ Migration, terrorism, and the Italian military engagement in Niger and Libya
Michela Ceccorulli & Fabrizio Coticchia
Pages 174-196 | Published online: 16 Apr 2020
In January 2018, the Italian parliament approved a new military operation in Niger and an extension to the existing deployment in Libya. Italian leaders explicitly cast this as a ‘pivot’ to Africa, a ‘relocation of troops’ from Afghanistan and Iraq to the Sahel and Northern Africa. What factors underlie this strategic shift? Despite the importance of this question, to date, little analysis of the decision-making process underpinning the recent change has been forthcoming. The article seeks to address this gap through an analysis of the parliamentary debates on the missions. Specifically, it examines the ‘relative importance’ of the two threats/challenges motivating the interventions: irregular immigration into the E.U. (and the related smuggling phenomena) and transnational terrorism. The article contributes to the ongoing debate on the evolution of the Italian foreign, security and defence policy in the broader Mediterranean, offering insights for comparative analyses with other states engaged in those contexts.
Operationalizing Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) | PKSOI SOLLIMS
Women, peace, and security is an internationally recognized term that includes protective and participatory dimensions and addresses the disproportionate and unique impact of conflict on women. Sexual violence, and other gender-based violence, frequently occurs during conflict and in fragile societies. It is usually, but not always, directed against women and girls. When women lead and participate in peace processes, peace lasts longer. Since the groundbreaking UN Security Council resolution 1325, calling for women’s participation in peacebuilding was passed 18 years ago, there is mounting evidence that women are powerful actors in sustaining peace in their communities and nations. Research shows that achieving gender equality helps in preventing conflict, and high rates of violence against women correlates with outbreaks of conflict.
Chapter Title: A HISTORY OF THE GENDARMERIE IN NIGER
Book Title: Policing the Frontier: An Ethnography of Two Worlds in Niger
Book Author(s): Mirco Göpfert
In some respects and from the perspective of many Nigerien gendarmes, the Gendarmerie Nigérienne seems to lack a history of its own. First, historians have never focused on the gendarmerie, not in Niger, rarely anywhere else in Africa.¹ Second, there are almost no archival sources available in Niger. The few available are fragmentary or inaccessible. Third, when talking about the history of their institution, gendarmes refer only to the history of the French gendarmerie, beginning with Napoleon, not to their own Nigerien path. Fourth, the number of gendarmes in Niger has more than tripled in two decades, so that at...
The impact of security force assistance in Niger: meddling with borders
Nina Wilén
International Affairs, Volume 98, Issue 4, July 2022, Pages 1405–1421, https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiac119 Published: 05 July 2022
How does Security Force Assistance (SFA) impact Niger's security sector and beyond? I draw on extensive fieldwork in Niger and identify and analyse two developments taking place in Niger's security sector: the development of an expanded Special Forces Command and the elaboration of multiple mobile hybrid units. I build upon, and contribute to, existing studies related to the politicization and securitization of borders in the Sahel and research discussing the blurring of borders between internal and external security forces. The aim is twofold: first, to unpack SFA efforts and effects through a focus on both geopolitical borders in Niger, and borders between and within corps and units in the security sector; and second, to contextualize and compare the developments in Niger's security sector with broader, global security trends. I find that both of the SFA projects constitute and feed into institutional games and inter-agency rivalry regarding task division, equipment and training. The overuse of the newly created Special Forces Command mirrors global trends of the latter as an ‘easy button to push’, while the multiplication of hybrid units to secure geopolitical borders reinforces the status and power of intermediary agencies that are at the interface between internal and external security forces. On an overarching level, the two trends of meddling with borders are found to be co-constituted by external and local actors who decide which developments that should be considered threats and how they should be addressed, questions that are deeply intertwined with power and control.
Analysing (In)formal Relations and Networks in Security Force Assistance: The Case of Niger
Nina Wilén
Pages 580-597 | Published online: 20 Sep 2021
Studies on Security Force Assistance (SFA) have hitherto been dominated by different iterations of the principal-agent perspective to explain relations between provider and recipient. Yet, while such frameworks aptly illustrate these dynamics from a macro perspective, they are inadequate when analysing the complexity of practices on the ground. To mitigate this short-coming, the present article uses a Social Network Analysis framework to provide an in-depth micro analysis of relations between different SFA providers and the recipient state: Niger, focusing on the Belgian Special Forces. Drawing on field observations and more than 40 interviews in Niger, the present study increases our understanding of how dynamic (in)formal social networks impact the development of SFA. It points to the importance of timing, contingency and individual encounters as central in the understanding of how SFA develops and at times strays from strategies.
The American way of war in Africa: the case of Niger
LTC Joseph Guido
Pages 176-199 | Received 06 Jan 2018, Accepted 25 Nov 2018, Published online: 25 Apr 2019
ABSTRACT
Increasing attention paid to US casualties in far-flung places such as Tongo Tongo, Niger, and headlines claiming ‘secret wars’ have fueled discussion about American military’s involvement in Africa. Though the continent has been a part of the American way of war since the beginnings of the US – consider the early combat actions of US Marines in Tripoli –, current African conflicts are challenging our understanding of war and approaches to winning it. This article examines the ways America seeks to achieve its ends in Africa with a particular focus upon the last 10 years of US counter-terrorism and stability operations in Niger and the Sahel Region. The author proposes unifying American, Allied, and partner efforts through a strategy of Active Containment.
‘I’ll take two.’ Migration, terrorism, and the Italian military engagement in Niger and Libya
Michela Ceccorulli & Fabrizio Coticchia
Pages 174-196 | Published online: 16 Apr 2020
In January 2018, the Italian parliament approved a new military operation in Niger and an extension to the existing deployment in Libya. Italian leaders explicitly cast this as a ‘pivot’ to Africa, a ‘relocation of troops’ from Afghanistan and Iraq to the Sahel and Northern Africa. What factors underlie this strategic shift? Despite the importance of this question, to date, little analysis of the decision-making process underpinning the recent change has been forthcoming. The article seeks to address this gap through an analysis of the parliamentary debates on the missions. Specifically, it examines the ‘relative importance’ of the two threats/challenges motivating the interventions: irregular immigration into the E.U. (and the related smuggling phenomena) and transnational terrorism. The article contributes to the ongoing debate on the evolution of the Italian foreign, security and defence policy in the broader Mediterranean, offering insights for comparative analyses with other states engaged in those contexts.
Operationalizing Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) | PKSOI SOLLIMS
Women, peace, and security is an internationally recognized term that includes protective and participatory dimensions and addresses the disproportionate and unique impact of conflict on women. Sexual violence, and other gender-based violence, frequently occurs during conflict and in fragile societies. It is usually, but not always, directed against women and girls. When women lead and participate in peace processes, peace lasts longer. Since the groundbreaking UN Security Council resolution 1325, calling for women’s participation in peacebuilding was passed 18 years ago, there is mounting evidence that women are powerful actors in sustaining peace in their communities and nations. Research shows that achieving gender equality helps in preventing conflict, and high rates of violence against women correlates with outbreaks of conflict.
OP-EDS
Explainer: the role of foreign military forces in Niger
https://theconversation.com/explainer-the-role-of-foreign-military-forces-in-niger-102503
Niger: A Bulwark against Further Instability in West Africa
Daniel Mahanty and William Meeker, CSIS 2019
https://www.csis.org/analysis/niger-bulwark-against-further-instability-west-africa
ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS
Monitoring Desertification in the Tillabéry Landscape (Sahel Region) using Change Detection Methods and Landscape Metrics
Mansour Mahamane, Volker Hochschild, Alfred Schultz, Jude Kuma
Abstract
This paper seeks to investigate and monitor desertification processes by using remote sensing based change detection methods as well as landscape metrics approaches. The analysis of land use/cover between 1973 and 2007 was conducted using one Landsat Multispectral Scanner (1973-09-30) image, a Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper plus (2001-09-18) image and two Landsat Thematic Mapper (1989-09-29 and 2007-09-27) images. The results of these classifications revealed an increasing trend in desertification throughout the study period. A set of indices (Mesh Index, Landscape Shannon’s Diversity Index, Mean Patch Area and Shape Index) were selected to investigate multi-temporal change in the Tillabéry landscape (Western Niger) an area affected by desertification. The results show that the landscape is highly fragmented, with a corresponding high number of patches with smaller patch sizes, indicating that the original landscape has been converted gradually into bare and desertified area. To further understand the trend and status of desertification in the Tillabéry landscape, a desertified index
was developed.
Assessing soil erosion risk in the Tillabery landscape, Niger
Mansour Mahamane
Article Number - F15378F50829 Vol.9(3), pp. 176-191 , March 2015 https://doi.org/10.5897/AJEST2014.1731
Abstract
To combat desertification, it is indispensable to understand soil erosion processes in the Sahel zone. The objective of this study was to develop a simple model that uses soil texture data from the field and Digital Elevation Model parameters to predict soil texture. This study also assesses soil erosion research in the Sahel region, illustrated by a case study from Tillabéry landscape (Niger). The most sensitive areas and trends of land degradation processes were identified using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation and Unit Stream Power-based Erosion Deposition models. The models used depict a rational evolution of soil loss distribution during the study period from 1973 to 2007. The results show that soil erosion output scenarios predict greater soil erosion in the study area from 2070 onwards. They suggest that human disturbance and topographic factors are the main impact factors in the affected areas.
Explainer: the role of foreign military forces in Niger
https://theconversation.com/explainer-the-role-of-foreign-military-forces-in-niger-102503
Niger: A Bulwark against Further Instability in West Africa
Daniel Mahanty and William Meeker, CSIS 2019
https://www.csis.org/analysis/niger-bulwark-against-further-instability-west-africa
ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS
Monitoring Desertification in the Tillabéry Landscape (Sahel Region) using Change Detection Methods and Landscape Metrics
Mansour Mahamane, Volker Hochschild, Alfred Schultz, Jude Kuma
Abstract
This paper seeks to investigate and monitor desertification processes by using remote sensing based change detection methods as well as landscape metrics approaches. The analysis of land use/cover between 1973 and 2007 was conducted using one Landsat Multispectral Scanner (1973-09-30) image, a Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper plus (2001-09-18) image and two Landsat Thematic Mapper (1989-09-29 and 2007-09-27) images. The results of these classifications revealed an increasing trend in desertification throughout the study period. A set of indices (Mesh Index, Landscape Shannon’s Diversity Index, Mean Patch Area and Shape Index) were selected to investigate multi-temporal change in the Tillabéry landscape (Western Niger) an area affected by desertification. The results show that the landscape is highly fragmented, with a corresponding high number of patches with smaller patch sizes, indicating that the original landscape has been converted gradually into bare and desertified area. To further understand the trend and status of desertification in the Tillabéry landscape, a desertified index
was developed.
Assessing soil erosion risk in the Tillabery landscape, Niger
Mansour Mahamane
Article Number - F15378F50829 Vol.9(3), pp. 176-191 , March 2015 https://doi.org/10.5897/AJEST2014.1731
Abstract
To combat desertification, it is indispensable to understand soil erosion processes in the Sahel zone. The objective of this study was to develop a simple model that uses soil texture data from the field and Digital Elevation Model parameters to predict soil texture. This study also assesses soil erosion research in the Sahel region, illustrated by a case study from Tillabéry landscape (Niger). The most sensitive areas and trends of land degradation processes were identified using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation and Unit Stream Power-based Erosion Deposition models. The models used depict a rational evolution of soil loss distribution during the study period from 1973 to 2007. The results show that soil erosion output scenarios predict greater soil erosion in the study area from 2070 onwards. They suggest that human disturbance and topographic factors are the main impact factors in the affected areas.
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"Malnutrition is a major threat to children’s health and development in Niger. According to 2018 data, 15.0 per cent of children are acutely malnourished in Niger (unchanged since 2006). Stunting, which has consequences for a child’s survival and cognitive development as well as economic development of the country, affects 47.8 per cent of children, similar to the situation in 2006. Micronutrient deficiencies are rampant, and more than 70 per cent of children under 5 are anemic." |
SUPPLEMENTAL ACADEMIC PIECES
Micro-Entrepreneurship in Niger: Factors Affecting the Success of Women Street Food Vendors
Miriam Otoo ,Germaine Ibro,Joan Fulton &James Lowenberg-Deboer
Pages 16-28 | Published online: 04 Apr 2012
Micro-entrepreneurship in the informal sector plays a vital role in generating employment and income in West Africa. In this article, the authors examine business success factors for micro-entrepreneurs involved in the production and sale of street foods in Niger, drawing on the resource-based view theory. Business success was measured by size of firm and vendor's perception of enterprise growth. Their results indicate that business experience is an important success factor, while the need for cash is a constraint for business success. A rare resource, limited access to financial assets translates into limited opportunities for growth of these informal micro-enterprises into viable businesses.
Micro-Entrepreneurship in Niger: Factors Affecting the Success of Women Street Food Vendors
Miriam Otoo ,Germaine Ibro,Joan Fulton &James Lowenberg-Deboer
Pages 16-28 | Published online: 04 Apr 2012
Micro-entrepreneurship in the informal sector plays a vital role in generating employment and income in West Africa. In this article, the authors examine business success factors for micro-entrepreneurs involved in the production and sale of street foods in Niger, drawing on the resource-based view theory. Business success was measured by size of firm and vendor's perception of enterprise growth. Their results indicate that business experience is an important success factor, while the need for cash is a constraint for business success. A rare resource, limited access to financial assets translates into limited opportunities for growth of these informal micro-enterprises into viable businesses.
