Between 2012 and 2013, Mali has gone through the most challenging period of its history as a nation-state. From a praised democracy, the country almost collapsed after the onset of a complex set of rebellions that threatened to divide or completely erase it from the map. This book provides a three-dimensional analysis of the conflict drivers as well a deep assessment of the conflict resolution mechanisms that were set up to restore Mali control over its territory. From the outbreak of MNLA insurgent attacks in early 2012, the crafting of AZAWAD,the fluidity of MNLA alliance with ANSAR DINE, MUJAO and AQIM, the coup d'état of Sanogo and downfall of Amani Toumani Touré, the responses of ECOWAS, the 'core countries' (Algeria, Mauritania), the African Union, the role of France to the re-hatting of AFISMA and launch of MINUSMA, all crusty details and facets of the crisis are meticulously scrutinized. This book is a must-have for academics, diplomats and strategists interested the new conflict dynamics in Mali and West Africa in a global era.

Religion in War and Peace in Africa shows how "Religious extremism" transcends the realm of belief, analysing current armed conflicts in Africa with perpetrators claiming to act in accord with their religion and moral values. Many African countries today are beset by armed conflicts carried out by different radical groups. In most such cases, religion has been used to incite extremism and to justify violence and exclusion. Perpetrators who seek to violently impose their "order" believe, or claim, that they are acting in accord with their religious and values. Scholars, peacemakers, Religious leaders, and Military officers explore peace initiatives and security managements. These rich, informative and path-breaking contributions in this book span the spectrum from the prevention of violence through peace initiatives and the analyses of the many complex historical, political, economic, demographic and ideological causes of violence to the role of traditional religions, and military intervention. Showing how religious leaders, scholars, peacekeepers, policy-makers, and military officers and others need to join their efforts in better understanding the intersections between religion and conflict, and to engage in shared missions focused on preventive actions and peace initiatives, Religion in War and Peace in Africa will be of great interest to scholars of military studies, African studies, peacekeeping, religion and conflict. The chapters were originally published as a special issue of Peace Review.

In Rage and Carnage in the Name of God, Abiodun Alao examines the emergence of a culture of religious violence in postindependence Nigeria, where Christianity, Islam, and traditional religions have all been associated with violence. He investigates the root causes and historical evolution of Nigeria’s religious violence, locating it in the forced coming together of disparate ethnic groups under colonial rule, which planted the seeds of discord that religion, elites, and domestic politics exploit. Alao discusses the histories of Christianity, Islam, and traditional religions in the territory that became Nigeria, the effects of colonization on the role of religion, the development of Islamic radicalization and its relation to Christian violence, the activities of Boko Haram, and how religious violence intermixes with politics and governance. In so doing, he uses religious violence as a way to more fully understand intergroup relations in contemporary Nigeria.

As the so-called Arab Spring has slid into political uncertainty, lingering insecurity and civil conflict, European and American initial enthusiasm for anti-authoritarian protests has given way to growing concerns that revolutionary turmoil in North Africa may in fact have exposed the West to new risks. Critical in cementing this conviction has been the realisation that developments originated from Arab Mediterranean countries and spread to the Sahel have now such a potential to affect Western security and interests as to warrant even military intervention, as France’s operation in Mali attests. EU and US involvement in fighting piracy off the Horn of Africa had already laid bare the nexus between their security interests and protracted crises in sub-Saharan Africa. But the new centrality acquired by the Sahel after the Arab uprisings – particularly after Libya’s civil war – has elevated this nexus to a new, larger dimension. The centre of gravity of Europe’s security may be swinging to Africa, encompassing a wide portion of the continental landmass extending south of Mediterranean coastal states. The recrudescence of the terrorist threat from Mali to Algeria might pave the way to an American pivot to Africa, thus requiring fresh thinking on how the European Union and the United States can better collaborate with each other and with relevant regional actors.

The crisis in the Sahel is serious and multidimensional, and if it continues unabated it could have consequences far beyond the region. As the states of the region are too poor and weak to deal with this on their own, international support is needed. the current international emphasis on the G5 Sahel should change from a focus on more 'boots on the ground' to support for the development agenda of this embryonic international organisation. The Sahel needs a functioning regional framework and the G5 Sahel has some potential; but the only way to harvest this potential is to help fine-tune it to address the underlying causes of conflict. Improving security conditions in the Sahel is absolutely essential; but neither the inhabitants of the region nor the external stakeholders will find security exclusively through military means. The correct priorities must be set. And at the heart of this there must be an improvement in living conditions and a new system of governance that makes it much less possible for jihadist insurgents to appropriate local land-rights conflicts.

For more than a century, from 1900 to 2006, campaigns of nonviolent resistance were more than twice as effective as their violent counterparts in achieving their stated goals. By attracting impressive support from citizens, whose activism takes the form of protests, boycotts, civil disobedience, and other forms of nonviolent noncooperation, these efforts help separate regimes from their main sources of power and produce remarkable results, even in Iran, Burma, the Philippines, and the Palestinian Territories. Combining statistical analysis with case studies of specific countries and territories, Erica Chenoweth and Maria J. Stephan detail the factors enabling such campaigns to succeed and, sometimes, causing them to fail. They find that nonviolent resistance presents fewer obstacles to moral and physical involvement and commitment, and that higher levels of participation contribute to enhanced resilience, greater opportunities for tactical innovation and civic disruption (and therefore less incentive for a regime to maintain its status quo), and shifts in loyalty among opponents' erstwhile supporters, including members of the military establishment. Chenoweth and Stephan conclude that successful nonviolent resistance ushers in more durable and internally peaceful democracies, which are less likely to regress into civil war. Presenting a rich, evidentiary argument, they originally and systematically compare violent and nonviolent outcomes in different historical periods and geographical contexts, debunking the myth that violence occurs because of structural and environmental factors and that it is necessary to achieve certain political goals. Instead, the authors discover, violent insurgency is rarely justifiable on strategic grounds.