Most so-called “terrorist” activity is a by-product of neoliberalism’s on-going crisis and its marginalisation of a growing proportion of the world’s population.
It may be time to remind ourselves of the parallels between today's IMF-Merkel-Cameron package for Europe’s nations in the red, and the structural adjustment policies of the 1980's. Meanwhile, the centre has everything to gain from the misery of the periphery if only everyone can be persuaded to h
In the past decade two inventions have dramatically altered life throughout the vast and diverse continent of Africa. The first is the mobile phone and the second (more rarely considered) is the motorbike.
Some of West Africa's poorest countries observed from the vantage point of a Chinese import motorcycle: State competence cannot be built without the ability to tax; aid agencies' emphasis on bringing down tariff barriers and inward investment by tax-dodging multinationals predictably weakens state
What is the basis of the Tuareg-Gaddafi alliance that is playing itself out in the end-game in Libya? And to what extent is our understanding coloured by how we like to think of this tribe of the Sahara, or perhaps how they have been used in other peoples’ narratives – including our own?
Underlining a sea change in their relationship, India and Bangladesh foster ties during prime minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Dhaka. Turkey-Israel relations reach a new low as Ankara suspends defence industry relations. US and Pakistan praise arrest of al-Qaeda operatives in Quetta while Tuareg
Yvan Guichaoua, West Africa expert researching non-government armed groups, describes what kind of force Al Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb is, what motivates its members and what are the conditions of its success. Smuggling, fast cars, and the economics of ransoms combine with ideology to create a t
Yvan Guichaoua reports back on the rise of a new force in the Sahara, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, news of which has reached the Western press through its kidnapping of European aid workers.
Niger is just one battleground, albeit it one on the periphery, in the new geopolitical scramble for resources taking place among developed nations. Nowhere has the Chinese quest for resources in Africa been more pronounced
