Regional insecurity and state weakness as harbinger of terrorism and insurgency in Mali

  • Introduction: In March 2012 a secessionist-Islamist insurgency gained momentum in Mali and quickly took control of two-thirds of the state territory. Within weeks radical Islamists, drug smugglers and rebels suddenly ruled over a territory bigger than Germany. News of the abuse of the population and the introduction of harsh Sharia law spread soon, and word got out that the Malian Army had simply abandoned the land. The general echo of the IC was surprise, a reaction that was, as this research will show, as unfunded as it was unconstructive*. When Malian state structures collapsed, the world watched in shock, even though the developments couldhave been anticipated –and prevented. Ultimately, the situation had to be resolved by international forces (most notably French troops), who are still in Mali at the time of writing (Arieff 2013a: 5; Lohmann 2012: 3; Walther and Christopoulos 2015: 514f.; Shaw 2013: 204; Qantara, Interview, 2012;L’Express, Mali, 2015; Deutscher Bundestag, MINUSMA und EUTM Mali, 2016; UN, MUNISMA, 2016; Boeke and Schuurmann 2015: 801; Chivvis 2016: 93f.). This research will show that the developments in Mali in 2012 have been developing for a long time and could have been avoided. In doing so, it will also show why state security can never be analyzed or consolidated in an isolated manner. Instead, it is necessary to take into account regional dynamics and developments in order to find a comprehensive approach to security in individual states. Once state failure occurs, not only does the state itself fail, but the surrounding region equally failed to prevent the failure. Weak states are a growing concern in many world regions, particularly in Africa. As international intervention often proves unsustainable for various reasons*, the author believes that states which cannot stabilize themselves need a regional agent to support them. This regional agent should be a Regional Security Complex (RSC) asdefined by Barry Buzan and Ole Waever (Buzan and Waever 2003). As the following analysis will show, Mali is a case in point. The hope is that this study will help avoid similar failures in the future by making a strong case for the establishment of RSC’s. …

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Metadaten
Author:Marie-Theres Beumler
URN:urn:nbn:de:kola-15424
Referee:Siegmar Schmidt, Rainer Tetzlaff
Document Type:Doctoral Thesis
Language:English
Date of completion:2017/12/07
Date of publication:2017/12/07
Publishing institution:Universität Koblenz-Landau, Campus Landau, Universitätsbibliothek
Granting institution:Universität Koblenz-Landau, Campus Landau, Fachbereich 6
Date of final exam:2017/12/06
Release Date:2017/12/07
Number of pages:242 Blätter
Institutes:Fachbereich 6 / Institut für Sozialwissenschaften
Licence (German):License LogoEs gilt das deutsche Urheberrecht: § 53 UrhG