A Moonless, Starless Sky

A Moonless, Starless Sky
Author: Alexis Okeowo
Publisher: Hachette Books
Total Pages: 190
Release: 2017-10-03
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0316382914

WINNER OF THE 2018 PEN OPEN BOOK AWARD "A rich and urgently necessary book" (New York Times Book Review), A Moonless, Starless Sky is a masterful, humane work of journalism by Alexis Okeowo--a vivid narrative of Africans who are courageously resisting their continent's wave of fundamentalism. In A Moonless, Starless Sky Okeowo weaves together four narratives that form a powerful tapestry of modern Africa: a young couple, kidnap victims of Joseph Kony's LRA; a Mauritanian waging a lonely campaign against modern-day slavery; a women's basketball team flourishing amid war-torn Somalia; and a vigilante who takes up arms against the extremist group Boko Haram. This debut book by one of America's most acclaimed young journalists illuminates the inner lives of ordinary people doing the extraordinary--lives that are too often hidden, underreported, or ignored by the rest of the world.

Radical Islam in East Africa

Radical Islam in East Africa
Author: Angel Rabasa
Publisher: Rand Corporation
Total Pages: 111
Release: 2009
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0833045199

Building sustained national resilience that is intolerant of terrorists and extremists and effective against them, he says, can only be accomplished by linking hard security initiatives with a broader array of policies designed to promote political, social, and economic stability."--BOOK JACKET.

Terrorism in Africa

Terrorism in Africa
Author: John Davis
Publisher: Lexington Books
Total Pages: 325
Release: 2012-07-10
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0739135775

The study, Terrorism in Africa: The Evolving Front in the War on Terrorism, represents a research endeavor aimed at increasing scholarly discourse on the ever-expanding threat of terrorism and terrorist-related violence in the region. It offers the most wide-ranging analysis of the sub-national and transnational terrorists groups that have made Africa the second most violent region in the world. Additionally, the study expands the coverage of the multiple dynamics that indicate why terrorist-related violence continues to increase in the region and closes with regional solutions to the threat of terrorism. This collection of essays offers a comprehensive analysis of the states, terrorist groups, and critical issues that have increased the specter of terrorism in Africa. The study is divided into three themes: (1) the diversity of the terrorist threat among states in the region, (2) the regional dynamics and the local response to terrorism, and (3) regional solutions to the threat of terrorism in Africa.

Militancy and Violence in West Africa

Militancy and Violence in West Africa
Author: James Gow
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 314
Release: 2013-07-18
Genre: History
ISBN: 1135968578

This volume provides a systematic and cross-regional analysis of radicalisation, militancy and violence in West Africa. Concern about terrorism in, or from, West Africa, has been recognised in academic research, and the adoption of militarised approaches to addressing it questioned. However, the basis for that questioning – the need to investigate factors such as the historical and socio-economic roots of militancy – is not developed, nor is it substantiated in existing studies. The significant impact of religiously motivated radicalisation and violence in West Africa upon international security makes it essential to understand the issues of militancy and violence in the region. In this volume, the authors draw upon empirical research in West Africa to develop understanding in these areas. Over the course of several chapters written by leading experts in the field, the book successfully blends historical and conceptual analysis with new empirical research gathered from focus group discussions and research interviews. Each of these core studies is structured around five interrelated issues: tracing the antecedents of radicalisation; monitoring trends; identifying actors; anticipating possibilities; and analysing the strength of existing preventive mechanisms. This book will be of much interest to students of African security, African politics, radicalisation, political Islam, war and conflict studies and security studies in general.

Jihadists of North Africa and the Sahel

Jihadists of North Africa and the Sahel
Author: Alexander Thurston
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 361
Release: 2020-10-29
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1108488668

Offers unique insights into the inner workings of jihadist organisations over the past three decades in North Africa and the Sahel.

Salafism and Political Order in Africa

Salafism and Political Order in Africa
Author: Sebastian Elischer
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 468
Release: 2021-08-05
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1108754783

Violent Islamic extremism is affecting a growing number of countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In some, jihadi Salafi organizations have established home bases and turned into permanent security challengers. However, other countries have managed to prevent the formation or curb the spread of homegrown jihadi Salafi organizations. In this book, Sebastian Elischer provides a comparative analysis of how different West and East African states have engaged with fundamentalist Muslim groups between the 1950s and today. In doing so, he establishes a causal link between state-imposed organizational gatekeepers in the Islamic sphere and the absence of homegrown jihadi Salafism. Illustrating that the contemporary manifestation of violent Islamic extremism in sub-Saharan Africa is an outcome of strategic political decisions that are deeply embedded in countries' autocratic pasts, he challenges conventional notions of statehood on the African continent, and provides new insight into the evolving relationships between secular and religious authority.

Extremisms in Africa Volume 2

Extremisms in Africa Volume 2
Author: Alain Tschudin
Publisher: Jonathan Ball Publishers
Total Pages: 213
Release: 2019-06-18
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0639992838

Over the past two decades, the rapid emergence and spread of both local and transnational extremist organisations has become a primary source of insecurity in Africa. Extremist organisations represent the fluid and variable nature of conflict systems today and are at the heart of some of Africa's most enduring conflicts. Moreover, the inability of African states to contain the threat of extremism, or of heavy-handed security responses, has led to the loss of thousands of lives, displaced millions, and deeply impacted the continent's democratisation and development goals. This is the second anthology published by Good Governance Africa (GGA) on the topic of extremism and political violence in Africa. Extremisms in Africa, one of the first anthologies of its kind on this topic to be authored - and published - on the African continent, provided an account of how extremist groups arose in Africa and the various ways in which they have harnessed their global agendas to local conflict dynamics and structural challenges, enabling them to exploit the grievances of individuals and communities for their cause. This anthology, Extremisms in Africa Volume 2, looks forward, giving special attention to the ways in which emergent trends, global geopolitics and conflict dynamics merge to impact upon the African continent. To this end, we have sought to engage diverse topics ranging from ecological concerns surrounding climate change and migration, the implications of such human movement for modern-day trafficking and slavery, and the roles of women and youth. State responses to extremisms on the African continent are not uniform; the capacity of individual states to detect/identify, police, investigate and prosecute is highly variable. At the most fundamental level, extremisms are ripe to arise in contexts where governments are failing, especially when democracy is on the wane. This anthology identifies some of the most pressing challenges in addressing extremisms today and provides chapters that could offer actionable policy insights to governments and civil society. Given the nature of Africa's geopolitical landscape, state and security services alone cannot prevent extremism. It will take a 'whole-of-society' approach, where government, civil society, academia, communities, families, and individuals collaborate to better understand the local dynamics of recruitment and radicalisation and develop context-specific strategies in response. This anthology will hopefully provide practitioners with improved insight into some of the key challenges and potential solutions in preventing extremism, while also being of interest to the general reader.

Terrorism in Africa

Terrorism in Africa
Author: Martha Crenshaw
Publisher: Dartmouth Publishing Company
Total Pages: 568
Release: 1993
Genre: History
ISBN:

Part of a series, this work is concerned with international terrorism, and deals with its manifestation in Africa. Among the events and topics covered are: the Entebbe rescue mission; African guerillas and indigenous governments; South Africa, terrorism and state disintegration; and more.

Religion, Law and Security in Africa

Religion, Law and Security in Africa
Author: M Christian Green
Publisher: AFRICAN SUN MeDIA
Total Pages: 406
Release: 2018-05-16
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1928314422

Security is a key topic of our time. But how do we understand it? Do law and religion take different views of it? In this fifth volume in the Law and Religion in Africa series, radicalisation, terrorism, blasphemy, hate speech, religious freedom and just war theories rub shoulders with issues of witchcraft, female genital mutilation circumcision, child marriage, displaced communities and additional issues besides. This unique collection of topics is both challenging and inspiring, providing illumination in troubled times, and forming a sound foundation for future scholarship.