Securitization Initiatives in the Sahara-Sahel Region in the Twenty-first Century

Abstract

The Sahara-Sahel region of northwest Africa has become a hotbed of terrorism. With regional countries unable to control their Saharan reaches, other actors have stepped in. This article examines recent securitization initiatives by the United States and France. U.S. efforts concentrated on training national security forces, while France?s are largely combat operations. U.S. training failed to prevent Mali from being overrun by terrorists. France?s combat operations have scattered but not eliminated the Islamists. These securitization initiatives have not worked, I argue, because they do not address the root causes of terrorism, which are not military but social and economic.