Research

Conflict and Fragility

Conflict and Fragility

The Sahel Programme

19 Mar 2024 - 01:50
Source: Oxfam International/Flickr
Table of contents
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Commissioned research
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Clingendael's Sahel Programme focuses on security and survival under fragmented sovereignty in the greater Sahel region, and how intervention strategies can be better adjusted to these dynamics.

Background

Many states in the greater Sahel region, such as Mali, Niger and Libya, fail to deliver essential public goods and services to substantial parts of their populations. Individuals therefore often look outside of the state for their security and survival. In this sense, joining armed (Islamist) organisations or criminal groups, illicit cross-border trading (including human smuggling), migration, and the use of customary law structures all serve a similar purpose: they foresee in people’s direct needs. This research programme focuses on how development and stabilisation programmes could contribute to a situation in which a) exclusionary and/or ineffective governance structures are opened up and strengthened so that larger parts of the population have access to the goods and services that the state is formally expected to supply; b) the ability of criminal and/or armed (extremist) groups to provide alternative goods and services is weakened; while c) ensuring that the inevitable conflict that will ensue over the alteration of this status quo can be resolved in as non-violent a manner as possible.

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Highlights

Europe in the World

Unravelling Turkish involvement in the Sahel

28 Jul 2023 - 13:36

Conflict and Fragility

Chief or Big-Man Politics in Post-War Sierra Leone?

21 Jul 2023 - 10:07

Conflict and Fragility

Twilight Institutions

10 May 2023 - 18:00

Conflict and Fragility

Malian army communications after massacres

21 Dec 2022 - 13:32

Conflict and Fragility

Self-defence groups, politics and the Sahelian State

14 Dec 2022 - 10:20

Conflict and Fragility

Conflict in the Penta-Border Area

30 Nov 2022 - 14:35

Conflict and Fragility

Humanitarians’ migration conundrum

06 Aug 2021 - 09:01

Publications
Conflict and Fragility
Northern Benin and risk of violent extremist spillover
10 Jun 2021 - 12:00
Conflict and Fragility
Methodology Customary Characters in Uncustomary Circumstance
16 Feb 2022 - 15:54
Conflict and Fragility
The case of Burkina Faso’s Centre-Nord region
02 Mar 2022 - 09:00
Conflict and Fragility
Customary Characters in Uncustomary Circumstances
23 Mar 2022 - 10:50
Conflict and Fragility
Customary Legitimacy
14 Feb 2022 - 17:55
Conflict and Fragility
The case of Niger’s Tillabéri region
16 Mar 2022 - 10:24
Conflict and Fragility
The case of Burkina Faso’s Est region
16 Feb 2022 - 10:10
Conflict and Fragility
The case of Northeastern Mali
09 Mar 2022 - 11:57
Conflict and Fragility
The Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland
09 Mar 2021 - 17:01
Conflict and Fragility
Pastoralist adaptation in Burkina Faso
22 Feb 2021 - 13:30
Conflict and Fragility
Methodology Customary Characters in Uncustomary Circumstance
16 Feb 2022 - 15:54
Conflict and Fragility
Towards mutually beneficial EU-West African migration cooperation
30 Nov 2020 - 12:25
Conflict and Fragility
Strategic Missteps: Learning From a Failed EU Sahel Strategy
09 Nov 2020 - 14:59
Conflict and Fragility
Politisiert Euch!
06 Nov 2020 - 11:41
Conflict and Fragility
The ‘Fight against Terrorism’ in the Sahel revisited
26 Oct 2020 - 09:00
Conflict and Fragility
Pandemic meets poverty: Pandemonium for pastoralists in the Sahel
10 Jul 2020 - 16:49
Trade and Globalisation
Le chant du cygne pour le Canada à l'ONU
30 Jun 2020 - 16:11
Conflict and Fragility
Burkina Faso: The role of vigilante groups in the 2020 elections
12 May 2020 - 09:44
Conflict and Fragility
Corona and the Sahel: Lessons from Ebola
07 May 2020 - 09:14
Conflict and Fragility
Burkina Faso’s Rocky Road to Democratic Consolidation
06 Apr 2020 - 09:15
Conflict and Fragility
Security sector stabilisation and development in Libya
02 Apr 2020 - 14:29
Conflict and Fragility
Legitimacy of traditional authorities: Mali, Niger and Libya
30 Sep 2019 - 11:21
Conflict and Fragility
Malian customary justice and international human rights
09 Apr 2018 - 16:16
Conflict and Fragility
Under the microscope: Customary justice systems in northern Mali
26 Jul 2017 - 17:21
Migration
Turning the tide
31 Jan 2017 - 13:12
Conflict and Fragility
ECFR Paris Podcast: Regional stability in the Sahel
13 Jun 2017 - 15:55
Conflict and Fragility
Conflict-sensitive and humane migration management in the Sahel
18 Dec 2018 - 13:41
Conflict and Fragility
A human rights approach to migration governance in the Sahel
12 Dec 2018 - 16:35
Strategic Foresight
Global Security Pulse: Migration & Security
31 May 2018 - 15:23
Conflict and Fragility
Why the EU should help former smugglers get a job
04 Apr 2018 - 11:19
Conflict and Fragility
Niger on the eve of elections
11 Feb 2016 - 17:36
Conflict and Fragility
Clingendael presents overview of results Sahel Programme
15 Jan 2016 - 13:11
Conflict and Fragility
Fix the unfixable: how to bring greater stability to the Sahel?
08 Jan 2016 - 10:10
Conflict and Fragility
Pluralisme juridique au Mali: acceptation et réconciliation
30 Nov 2015 - 13:56
Conflict and Fragility
Criminal justice in Mali in crisis: Steps for improvement
12 Nov 2015 - 13:29
Trade and Globalisation
China’s Evolving Role in Peacekeeping and African Security
14 Sep 2015 - 11:47
Conflict and Fragility
Addressing Libya’s multiple crises
03 Jul 2015 - 14:12
Conflict and Fragility
A snapshot of Mali three years after the 2012 crisis
08 Jun 2015 - 12:01
Conflict and Fragility
Islamic State franchising
20 Apr 2015 - 09:57
Conflict and Fragility
The roots of Mali's conflict: Moving beyond the 2012 crisis
13 Apr 2015 - 10:23
Conflict and Fragility
Commentary: Bamako’s new government
11 Feb 2015 - 16:10
Conflict and Fragility
Azawad and the rights of passage
12 Jan 2015 - 10:24
Conflict and Fragility
Commentary: Sergei Boeke discusses security in Mali
15 Dec 2014 - 12:00
Conflict and Fragility
Upgrading Peacekeeping to Counter Transnational Conflict Drivers
25 Sep 2014 - 17:52
Conflict and Fragility
The New Criminal Blitz: Mali, Iraq and the Business of Asymmetry
25 Jul 2014 - 09:07
Conflict and Fragility
Mali: kruitvat van wapens en grieven
06 Jun 2014 - 13:27
Conflict and Fragility
Crime after Jihad: illicit business in post-conflict Mali
15 May 2014 - 12:23
Conflict and Fragility
Sustainable Migration Management in the Sahel
29 Nov 2017 - 09:13
Conflict and Fragility
Roadmap for sustainable migration management in Agadez
11 Oct 2017 - 11:06
Conflict and Fragility
Feuille de route pour gestion de la migration durable à Agadez
11 Oct 2017 - 11:06
Conflict and Fragility
Resource conflicts and embattled traditional authorities in Mali
23 Jul 2018 - 22:45
Conflict and Fragility
Malian customary justice and international human rights
09 Apr 2018 - 16:16
Conflict and Fragility
Initiatives politiques de renforcement systèmes judiciaires Mali
14 Feb 2018 - 09:42
Conflict and Fragility
Policy initiatives to strengthen customary justice in Mali
06 Feb 2018 - 16:05
Conflict and Fragility
Why securitising the Sahel will not stop migration
22 Jan 2018 - 17:00
Conflict and Fragility
Under the microscope: Customary justice systems in northern Mali
26 Jul 2017 - 17:21
Conflict and Fragility
Deterring the influence of organized crime on political parties
11 Oct 2016 - 14:25
Conflict and Fragility
Deterring the Influence of Organized Crime on Elections
11 Oct 2016 - 13:55
Conflict and Fragility
Working with informal justice
16 Jan 2017 - 10:55
Conflict and Fragility
New ways to respond to violent conflicts
31 May 2016 - 10:38
Conflict and Fragility
Crisis Alerts Libya
30 Nov 2017 - 12:20
Conflict and Fragility
Improving decentralised natural resource management in the Sahel
29 Jun 2020 - 10:22
Conflict and Fragility
Decentralisation amidst hybrid governance: Case of Northern Mali
09 Jun 2020 - 11:20
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Staff involved
Mariska van Beijnum
Senior Research Fellow
Kars de Bruijne
Senior Research Fellow
Erwin van Veen
Senior Research Fellow
Anette Hoffmann
Senior Research Fellow
Megan Price
Head Conflict Research Unit
Frans-Paul van der Putten
Senior Research Associate