This book explains the structure and geographical and organisational mobility of criminal and migratory movements in the Sahara and the Sahel with a view to helping establish better development strategies for the region.

This report examines the co-operation potential of West African regions, the structure of cross-border policy networks, and the spatial vision that policy makers have of cross-border co-operation.

North and West Africa are undergoing rapid urbanisation. While cities and urban areas have always been sites of conflict, given their political and economic importance, many insurgencies, rebellions and separatist movements are associated with rural areas.

The African Economic Outlook 2015 analyses Africa’s growing role in the world economy and predicts the continent’s two-year prospects in crucial areas: macroeconomics, financing, trade policies and regional integration, human development, and governance.

Hybrid forms of governance – where the central state authority does not possess a monopoly of violence and fails to exercise control – are not only an epiphenomena, but a reality likely to persist. This book explores this phenomenon drawing on examples from the Middle East and Africa. It considers the different sorts of actors – state and non-state, public and private, national and transnational – which possess power, examines the dynamics of the relationships between central authorities and other actors, and reviews the varying outcomes. The book provides an alternative view of the way in which governance has been constructed and lived, puts forward a conceptualisation of various forms of governance which have hitherto been regarded as exceptions, and argues for such forms of governance to be regarded as part of the norm.

This report is a first step towards building a qualitative understanding of the way illicit or criminal activities interact with the economy, security and development of West African States.