Frowd, Philippe M. orcid.org/0000-0002-1368-1154 and Sandor, Adam J. (2018) Militarism and its limits:Sociological insights on security assemblages in the Sahel. Security Dialogue. pp. 70-82. ISSN 1460-3640
Abstract
This article assesses the concepts of militarism and militarization in relation to contemporary security interventions in the Sahel, a region increasingly understood through the prisms of violence, cross-border illicit flows, and limited statehood. This region is subject to security interventions that include French military action, EU-funded projects to prevent drug trafficking, and both bilateral and multilateral efforts against irregular migration. To many observers, it is experiencing an ongoing militarization. We argue that while the inextricable concepts of militarism and militarization go some way towards explaining interventions’ occasional use of military violence, they are limited in their grasp of the non-martial and symbolic violence in security practices. We instead propose a focus on assemblages of (in)security to show the heterogeneous mix of global and local actors, and often contradictory rationalities and practices that shape the logics of symbolic and martial violence in the region. Throughout, the article draws on the authors’ fieldwork in Mauritania, Senegal, and Niger, and includes two case studies on efforts against the Sahel’s ‘crime–terror nexus’ and to control irregular migration through the region. The article’s contribution is to better situate debates about militarism and militarization in relation to (in)security and to provide a more granular understanding of the Sahel’s security politics.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2018. This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details |
Keywords: | (in)security,Assemblages,intervention,militarism,militarization,Sahel |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York The University of York > Faculty of Social Sciences (York) > Politics (York) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number THE BRITISH ACADEMY SG161518 |
Depositing User: | Pure (York) |
Date Deposited: | 15 Jan 2018 10:10 |
Last Modified: | 02 Apr 2025 23:07 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1177/0967010617739534 |
Status: | Published |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1177/0967010617739534 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:126242 |
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