Constructing To Destroy: A Critical Examination of the Role of Identity Construction in the Study of Terrorism in West Africa

dc.contributor.authorAtta, F.K.
dc.date.accessioned2019-11-05T12:46:03Z
dc.date.available2019-11-05T12:46:03Z
dc.date.issued2019-07
dc.descriptionPhD. International Affairsen_US
dc.description.abstractTerrorism is one of the greatest security threats to many West African states currently. For instance, in the Lake Chad Basin area, Nigeria and other states are aggressively fighting the Boko Haram and the Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP) militants. Westward toward the Sahara is another group of five states, the G5 Sahel Group, also fiercely fighting incessant violence by jihadist groups affiliated to al Qaeda and the Islamic State. However, rather than shrinking, terrorist groups appear to be swelling in the face of national, multinational and regional counterterrorism efforts. This study questions the basic philosophy driving the current counterterrorism strategies in West Africa. It seeks to understand the identity of the terrorist in West Africa through a critical lens and the implication for counterterrorism strategy. The study is framed within Critical Terrorism Studies (CTS) theory, keeping a skeptical attitude toward the dominant understanding of terrorism discourse. The methodology is heavily influenced by the choice of the CTS perspective employing multiple sources – interviews, media reports and speeches. Coded data were analysed thematically within the CTS framework. The study found that adopting a CTS approach in defining terrorism offers a more robust, more contextualized and clearer framework for defining terrorist acts unlike the existing conceptualization. It further found that terrorism in West Africa has assumed a patron-client structural dynamic. Consequently, the study identified, firstly, the “terrorist sponsor” as a complex elitist network of politicians, religious leaders, ethnic leaders and economic leaders who have diverse interests in the perpetuation of terrorism; and secondly, the “terrorist combatant” who, with the help of misinterpreted Islamic doctrine, is recruited, trained, armed and commissioned by the “terrorist sponsor” to carry out acts of violence. The relationship between the two is hinged on mutual benefits derived from the clientelist structure of society. This study, therefore, recommends a redefinition of terrorism in West Africa based on CTS conceptualisation and the sub-region’s unique structural, social and historical circumstances. CTS inspired and West African contextualized definition of terrorism will clearly identify what a terrorist incident is and what is not and will adopt appropriate preventive terrorism strategies at the structural level using political, religious, economic and communal or ethnic means to break the bond between sponsors and combatants. Again, strategy formulation and implementation should significantly involve all the three key levels – the ECOWAS Community level, national level and local community level.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://ugspace.ug.edu.gh/handle/123456789/33378
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherUniversity of Ghanaen_US
dc.subjectInternational Securityen_US
dc.subjectTerrorismen_US
dc.subjectWest Africaen_US
dc.titleConstructing To Destroy: A Critical Examination of the Role of Identity Construction in the Study of Terrorism in West Africaen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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