Marc-Antoine Pérouse de Montclos

Institute of Research for Development | IRD

À partir de 2009, l'insécurité liée à l'insurrection du groupe Boko Haram et à sa répression s'est diffusée depuis le coeur du Borno nigérian vers tout le nord-est du pays puis vers les zones frontalières des pays voisins, Cameroun, Niger et Tchad. La crise a affecté progressivement toute la région du lac Tchad, un des grands espaces transfrontalie...

Most of the academic literature on violence in Nigeria is qualitative. It rarely relies on quantitative data because police crime statistics are not reliable, or not available, or not even published. Moreover, the training of Nigerian social scientists often focuses on qualitative, cultural, and political issues. There is thus a need to bridge the...

Nigeria intrigues as much as it is feared for its regional trouble-making and destabili-sation potential. On one hand, the dynamism of an emerging power is praised whilst, on the other, we lament a weak and disfunc-tional - or even failed - state, one that is at the very least incapable of stopping the terrorist threat posed by Boko Haram. Due to i...

Boko Haram, an Exception within the Jihadist Movement? The Islamic State has considerable income, mostly from taking control of banks; managing trafficking networks – particularly hydrocarbons – and from external support. However, its politico-military ambitions are expensive: it has to pay thousands of fighters and govern the territories under its...

Depuis peu proclamé première économie africaine devant l'Afrique du Sud, le Nigeria est en proie à d'importantes tensions en raison notamment des violences qu'y perpétue Boko Haram. Cette secte islamiste a pour objectif de faire appliquer intégralement la charia dans ce pays où vit la plus grosse communauté musulmane du continent africain. La multi...

Le débat fait rage entre d'un côté les habitants du Sud producteur qui veulent garder pour eux les revenus de l'or noir, et de l'autre ceux qui a contrario estiment qu'il faut partager les richesses entre tous les États.

Boko Haram and the sovereignty of Nigeria: a story of borders Born at the periphery of Nigeria, in the North-East, the jihad of Boko Haram has shaken the most populated country in Africa. Indeed, it forced the authorities to take into consideration the geopolitics of Lake Chad and, for the first time since independence, to accept the intervention o...

Nigeria, an emergent power or a failed state? Nigeria intrigues as much as it is feared for its regional trouble-making and destabilisation potential. On one hand, the dynamism of an emerging power is praised whilst, on the other, we lament a weak and disfunctional – or even failed – state, one that is at the very least incapable of stopping the te...

The Nigerian Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), which is currently being discussed in Parliament, aims at reforming the oil industry. But it also reveals the guiding forces of local politics. The PIB exposes the limitations of the state's ambitions, desire and capacity for reform, and it is strong evidence for the regional divisions and social tensions...

Humanitarian workers often complain that international aid to victims of armed conflicts is more and more militarized because relief organizations are embedded into peacekeeping operations, used as a "force multiplier", or manipulated as an instrument of diplomacy by proxy. Historically, however, charity has always been a military issue in times of...

The fantasy of oil in war-torn countries: a geopolitical analysis A highly symbolic resource, oil is often seen as a curse and a source of armed conflicts. It is of course a reason for competition and a strategic asset to conduct a war. But its role should not obscure other factors of armed conflicts. From various examples in Africa, Asia and Latin...

Based on the case of Boko Haram, or Jama'atu Ahlis-Sunnah Lidda'awati Wal Jihad ("People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet's Teachings and Jihad") to give it its real name, this chapter introduces a general discussion on the relationship between Islam and politics in Nigeria. Unlike Hamas in Palestine, Hezbollah in Lebanon, or the Muslim...

Les violences de la secte "islamiste" Boko Haram contre les chrétiens au Nigeria pourraient laisser croire à une manifestation du "choc des civilisations". Mais la réalité est plus complexe. Il faut prendre en compte la situation globale du pays, économiquement très hétérogène et gangréné par la corruption.

Le Nigéria est devenu la plus grosse économie du continent africain, mais sa croissance reste fragilisée par des tensions internes et des insurrections armées, dont la plus connue est aujourd’hui menée par le mouvement djihadiste Boko Haram.

Opportunities to address the Boko Haram crisis have been missed, so the situation has become more entrenched, resulting in a seeming reduction in the policy options available to respond. But there are steps that can be taken, primarily by Nigerian state and non-state actors, but also by Nigeria's neighbours and international partners.

This book is the first attempt to understand Boko Haram in a comprehensive and consistent way. It examines the early history of the sect and its transformation into a radical armed group. It analyses the causes of the uprising against the Nigerian state and evaluates the consequences of the on-going conflict from a religious, social and political p...

La mise en récit d’un terrorisme islamiste global tend à relier entre elles toutes les insurrections djihadistes à travers le monde. Dans le Nord-Est du Nigeria, la secte Boko Haram n’échappe pas à ce type d’analyse. Certains observateurs insistent notamment sur de prétendus liens opérationnels avec le Maghreb. Malgré quelques contacts individuels,...

A highly symbolic resource, oil is often seen as a curse and a source of armed conflicts. It is of course a reason for competition and a strategic asset to conduct a war. But its role should not obscure other factors of armed conflicts. From various examples in Africa, Asia and Latin America, this article thus shows how the fantasy of oil can stimu...

A strict economic reading of conflicts in developing countries raises two major problems. First, it tends to ignore the political and immaterial dimension of rivalries that also pertain to the quality of institutions, the organisation of the state, cultural patterns, and power structures in a society. Secondly, it neglects interdependences and the...

The city of Monrovia has played a pivotal role in the war in Liberia. Despite the fact that rural conflicts have ultimately made their way to the capital, the city's population has tripled. And despite the urban violence Monrovia has still offered displaced populations a more secure refuge than the hinterland which continues to be ravaged by armed...

The limits of economics to understand the geopolitics of conflicts in developing countries A strict economic reading of conflicts in developing countries raises two major problems. First, it tends to ignore the political and immaterial dimension of rivalries that also pertain to the quality of institutions, the organisation of the state, cultural p...

Nigeria and the Trial of Islam Nigeria is the country with the sixth largest Muslim population. The demographic growth of Muslim populations could mean they are in the majority by 2030. Contrary to what most news agencies purport to be true, the implementation of Sharia in parts of the North is not a recent phenomenon. What is more, the likelihood...

[4e de couv.] Depuis juillet, la France se désengage militairement du Mali après une opération de plusieurs mois, mais pour autant le Mali est-il réellement revenu à une situation de stabilité ? Sur le terrain, certes, la menace djihadiste semble contenue, et l'élection présidentielle a pu avoir lieu dans des conditions qui ont satisfait les observ...

Measuring Development : NGOs Between Performance and Communication NGOs and institutional funders currently use quantitative tools to measure poverty and the impact of their development programmes. Such a statistical evaluation started with economists and the military at the end of the Second World War, but it became a paradigm in the 1980s, when t...

This article deals with the political issues of excess mortality due 'to conflicts. Based on a case-study from Nigeria, it addresses two main points. The first has to do with the methodological possibilities to measure the intensity and the human impact of armed conflicts. In the context of developing countries where official statistics are not rel...

Cette réflexion pluridisciplinaire interroge la notion même de crise et les interactions avec les migrations dans les pays en développement. Des dimensions majeures sont explorées : usages sémantiques et stratégiques, histoire des populations, violences et conflits internationaux, protection juridique, pauvreté, perception des expériences migratoir...

Focused on maritime piracy in the oil-producing Niger Delta (Nigeria), this article addresses three main questions. First, how can we measure the escalation or decrease of criminal violence at sea? Secondly, what is the relationship between piracy and the (permanent) crisis of the state in Africa? Finally, what is the relationship between violence...

Au Nigeria, la dérive terroriste du mouvement islamiste Boko Haram interroge le rapport de la violence dite "religieuse" à l'État. Cette étude de terrain pose ainsi trois questions fondamentales qui tournent toutes autour de nos propres confusions sur les notions d'islamisation, de conversion, de radicalisation et de politisation du religieux, à sa...

Résumé À partir d’un cas d’étude empirique dans le delta du Niger au Nigeria, cet article vise à mettre évidence les difficultés que pose concrètement l’application d’un principe de développement qui assigne aux compagnies pétrolières une fonction non seulement économique et sociale, mais aussi politique. Les enquêtes de terrain montrent en effet q...

Most studies on the transfer of public policies to developing countries focus on the acceptance, the assimilation, or the refusal of norms. As a result, researchers usually analyze the factors of “cultural” resistance or “political” opposition to Western models of good governance (Brownlee, 2007; Bayart, 1996; Carothers, 2004.). But they often tend...

The maritime piracy is an old phenomenon, to define its cause is necessary a complex analysis. This article focuses in the Nigerian case and concludes that the attacks’ study is one variable to understand the relation between the geographic space and the concentration of the criminal violence in the country’s coast. To test the correlation with the...

Humanitarian NGOs in Developing Countries : Who evaluates who ? Humanitarian NGOs which help developing countries are usually assessed by their funders, not their beneficiaries. Such a system brings several conflicts of interest : 1) it needs to be approved by those who are evaluated and so does not deal with “bad eggs” that refuse to be investigat...

In Africa South of the Sahara, Islamic humanitarian NGOs are often suspected of supporting terrorist groups and trying to convert the population. But it is important not to apply double standard and confuse different categories. “Muslim”, “Islamic” and “Islamist” organisations are not the same. Extremist groups remain an exception. Moreover, some e...

Dans l’entendement populaire, le refugie est d’abord et avant tout quelqu’un qui fuit un danger, quoi qu’il en soit par ailleurs de la nature des persecutions subies, des distances parcourues et du franchissement ou non d’une frontiere internationale. Sur le plan pratique, cependant, l’attribution d’un statut de demandeur d’asile s’avere determinan...

Humanitarian NGOs and intergovernmental organisations are usually assessed by their funders, not their beneficiaries. In most cases, their evaluation relies on interviews with "professionals", neglects field surveys, does not use opinion polls and seldom tries to assess the socioeconomic impact of relief. Moreover, it is commissioned by stakeholder...

Marc-Antoine Pérouse de Montclos, Tales and Legends of African Wars: Controversies and Politics Relating to Violent Death Is Africa going from bad to worse, with figures on violent death rising constantly? This idea is shared by most commentators, but merits qualification. First, improvements in statistical systems have removed much of the meaning...

Forced migration and urbanization in Sub-Sahara Africa : a historical perspective In Sub-Sahara Africa, urbanisation in times of crises reveal a category of displaced people who didn’t decide freely to go to cities, even if they could sometimes choose their final destination. Such urban dwellers were forced by unexpected circumstances to seek refug...

L'évaluation des stratégies de lutte contre la pauvreté repose pour beaucoup sur des indicateurs quantitatifs basés sur la réalisation des OMD. Mais le débat intéresse aussi la qualité des opérateurs de l'aide, au premier rang desquels les ONG, qui sont censées jouer un rôle essentiel d'intermédiaire auprès des populations « bénéficiaires ». Aussi...

The privatization of security and the proliferation of vigilantes are a global phenomenon which encompasses developing countries. Studies of international relations have to take them into account when they analyse armed conflicts or crime. But the failure of the state apparatus is not enough to explain the privatization of security. Other elements...

From Development to humanitarian Emergency: an Exercise in public Relations This article analyses the way humanitarian international NGOs speak and communicate about development. It first examines how relief organisations specialised in emergencies eventually got involved in reconstruction and development after the end of the cold war. It then show...

In African contemporary history, Biafra is not only remembered as one of the worst humanitarian crises on the continent, but also as a tragedy that gave rise to the concept of ingérence or the international responsibility to protect. Unfor-tunately, the controversies about the impact of aid during the conflict have been forgotten. Today, the humani...

Marc-Antoine Pérouse de Montclos, Political Foundations in International Relations Non-governmental organisations, and among them political foundations, have become important actors in international relations, especially since the end of the Cold War. Americans and Germans hold a prominent position, many of their foundations acting either as a supp...

Since September 11, conversions to Islam have worried strategic analysts, as neophytes are usually considered to be more extremist than traditional Muslims. From Asia to Africa, the issue is now a question that deserves commentary. We have to distinguish (1) conversion from one religion to another, (2) "internal" conversion (a "born-again" phenomen...

This article argues that both war and humanitarian aid contribute to ethnic construction. Based on the case study of Somali “minority refugees” in Kenya, it shows that armed conflicts, massacres, and forced migrations are not the only factors to produce very specific forms of collective identification. In collecting refugees in camps and selecting...

Urban fringes and forced migration : refugees’ strategies to withstand camps in East Africa This article investigates citadinity and the simultaneously social, economic and legal marginality of populations of refugees or people displaced by armed conflicts or natural disasters. In their way, foreigners, asylum seekers and “second zone citizens” are...

Dans une vision libérale héritée de la pensée tocquevillienne du XIxe siècle, les associations sont constitutives du pluralisme politique. Elles symbolisent les vertus de la démocratie et ,sont censées figurer un contrepouvoir efficace face à des Etats inévitablement hégémoniques et portés à l'autoritarisme. Mieux encore: leur développement irait d...

A partir du cas du Nigeria, l’etude a pour objectif de comprendre la complexite et de preciser les limites d’une diaspora en devenir, cela en revenant sur les differentes sequences historiques qui ont contribue a diluer ou, au contraire, a affermir des identites construites dans l’exil. Le propos est d’envisager de facon globale et empirique les ar...

The black continent seems to be today a mission territory for international operations, in which military aspects are now inseparable from political and economical parts. It is however not sure that these operations, trying to influence from outside conflicts that are mainly civil wars, have positive consequences. Their contrasted results forces us...

On the impartiality of humanitarian aid operators and their beneficiaries’ perception of them : the political issues behind international aid in Burundi This article takes as starting point a satisfaction survey conducted in Burundi in 2005 in the displaced persons camps of Muyange and Nyabigina near the Tanzanian border, to examine the perception...

Bad governance and NGOs: the Nigerian exception Nigeria, often given as an example of bad governance, is frequently categorized as one of the world’s most corrupt and violent States. Another exceptional characteristic, for an African country, is that very few NGOs from the industrialized countries are present. Nigeria practically does not depend on...

Urban violence in Africa South of the Sahara is quite new and colonial rule influenced a lot its penal analysis after independence. Today, research on this issue is still prone to difficulties due to unreliable statistical data, the confusion between political and criminal violence, and stereotypes on slums and Africans. The « plot theory» is inade...

In Africa, federalism is often understood as a solution to rule wide territories and multicultural societies in the context of weak states, especially after civil wars. Yet the experiences of Sudan and Nigeria show that " good governance " under such a system is very limited by the way authoritarian regimes implement it.

Depuis la fin de la guerre froide et le triomphe des idees liberales, la privatisation de l'Etat est devenu un theme de predilection des etudes sur les pays en developpement. Certains ont analyse le phenomene sous l'angle economique en insistant sur le cout social du demantelement des services publics qu'entrainaient les programmes d'ajustement de...

Transition to democracy in Nigeria : civilised soldiers or militarised civilians ? Since the first coup d’état in Nigeria in January 1966, the army has always maintained close des with civilian politicians : neither group has governed without the backing of the other. The 1999 elections, confirming the army’s return to barracks, brought to power Ol...

Ethnic violence in the face of facts : The case of Nigeria Reputed as one of the most violent countries of Africa, Nigeria has gone through numerous conflicts, which don't correspond to lineage patterns only. In fact, power networks and ethnic identities first constitute a handy mode of mobilisation for politicians rivalling at State control and th...

Sudan and Somalia: ethnicity in war War – with its bloodshed – tends to accentuate ethnic distinctions. We see the development of two situations: regrouping of population in military enclaves or refugee camps on the one hand, and exodus abroad or, at the very least, outside the native lands on the other. Case studies carried out in the Sudan and So...

In the Eye of the Storm This article argues that the elaboration of citizenship in the camps transcends the nation-state by referring to the international community. The management of the forced displacement of the population in fact « fabricates » refugees in order to maintain the « national order of things ». In the camps, the refugees are exclud...

Order in Exile : « Traditional » culture and human rights protection in Kenya’s refugees camps Refugee influx in Kenya in the 1990s overwhelmed the state, thus attracting international relief agencies. This article examines how relief organizations employed cultural perspectives and grouped refugees according to their ethnic, clan and gender identi...