• Corpus ID: 154895576

Securitizing the Sahara

@inproceedings{Mundy2010SecuritizingTS,
  title={Securitizing the Sahara},
  author={Jacob Mundy},
  year={2010}
}

• Jacob Mundy
• Published 2010
• Political Science

The US, EU and Chinese compete to control strategic resources (oil, bauxite, uranium, subterranean water) in the Sahara, Sahel and proximate semi-arid zones as northern Nigeria, home of the young suicide bomber who failed to bring down Northwest Airlines Flight 252 over Detroit in December 2009.1 US-NATO commands in Stuttgart and Brussels prosecute the ‘War on Terror’ to securitize ‘dangerous’ West African Muslim states (and quietly manoeuvre leases to exploit resources vital to US and EU capital accumulation). The principal cause of growing youth militancy mobilising around ethnicity and Islamic reformism is . T���������m — ����� ��y�����m���� ����� �� v��������� ��� ���������� �� ����m������ �� ��������, ����p�������y ��� p�������� p��p�������; ����� ������� �� ����� ��� ���bm�������� p�������� by ��������������. Y����� ���� m������ ����� �. 5�35 y������. the ruling class’s failure to ‘share’ the ‘dividends of democracy’ — e.g. rental incomes from ‘traditional’ community owned strategic resources as oil, gas, gold, bauxite, uranium, water — according to subaltern clients’ expectations. So the under-class experiences as ‘bad’ the ‘democratic’ West African State’s governance. Failed expectations are reflected in some radical elements’ readiness to sacrifice their lives in fighting the war machine — sheer force — of the repressive State.2 ‘Bad’ governance is the consequence not of corruption but of clientelism, that is informal political relations greased by money between patrons/‘big men’ and clients/‘small boys’; this largely illegal system of power and patronage generates venality and violence, but not as yet real terrorism (Obi 2006).3 Ironically, Islamic militants (northern Nigeria) and ethnic sovereignty movements (southern Nigeria, northern Niger, northern Mali) drawing on subaltern discontent share . ���������� N�������� ����� ��xp�������y ��. 6 �65 y������ �� 960 5� 50 �� 009; ���� �� ����� ����������� w���� ������� �� m�������� m�������y; ���� �� ����� ����������� w���� ������� ������� �� ���������� ������ 5 y������ �UN ���v����pm���� R��p��� 00���. 3. C������������m — ���ymm�������� p�������� ����������� b���w����� �����w� ����� ��� ����������; � p����� p��������� ��� ����k�� ������’ ������� p�w������ m��� ��� ������� ��m�������, ����� ���������. P����m��������m — �b�� m���’ �p��������� ����������� ����w��k�� �� ����m������� �� ������������ � p����m��y, ����, ��p���� ��� ��m��y ��� ���� b��������; ���������� p������� ��� ��������� ��xp���� �����������’. Caroline Ifeka Article