African Military Politics in the Sahel
Regional Organizations and International Politics

Analyzes the politics around military deployments in the Sahel since 2012 from a critical geopolitics perspective.

Katharina P. W. Döring (Author)

9781009362238, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 22 May 2025

290 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm, 0.423 kg

'Döring's account is a very much welcome addition to the literature on conflict management in Mali and the Sahel as it sheds light on a thus far often overlooked aspect of the interventions, namely African agency. The extensive fieldwork and document gathering exercise that Döring undertook offer a remarkably rich empirical base on which the analysis meticulously draws. … the book deserves a space in every book-shelf that features the core literature on the interventions in Mali and the Sahel.' Martin Welz, The Journal of Development Studies

Challenging western and francocentric accounts of military interventions in the Sahel, Katharina P. W. Döring foregrounds the response of African regional organizations to armed violence since 2012. Based on extensive empirical research, she reconstructs the experiences of African intervenors in planning and deploying missions in the region. The book outlines the complex constellation of actors who shape African military politics, including presidents, diplomats, and bureaucrats. Drawing upon insights from critical geography, Döring considers the oft-neglected role that space – at once relational and changing – plays in the power dynamics of the region. In so doing, she offers a fresh perspective on military deployments and their politics. Amidst the current resurgence of nationalist geopolitics, this study and its findings have far-reaching implications for the analysis of military politics in Africa and beyond.

List of Figures
List of Tables
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
Making Room for War
1. Spatial Semantics in African Military Politics
2. Combating 'Sahelistan': The Struggle over Military Deployment for Mali
3. Challenging the 'Regions' of the African Standby Force
4. Security and Intelligence Cooperation in the 'Sahelo-Saharan Region'
5. African Military Coalitions and the 'Core Countries' in the Sahel
6. Towards a Critical Geopolitics of African Military Politics
Appendix
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Constitution: government & the state [JPHC]