Bonn International Centre for Conflict Studies

Since the collapse of the “Caliphate” of the Islamic State in the Levant, Sub-Saharan Africa is considered the next jihadist frontier, actively promoted as such by global, self-proclaimed jihadist networks. This project takes a comparative look at the activities of jihadists on the African continent and how (if at all) jihadist insurgencies have changed the political, social and economic dynamics in African conflicts.

The armed challenge posed by jihadists—or those who present themselves as such, given that jihad is a highly debated concept in Islam—has become a pressing concern in Africa and is often analysed through the lens of “violent extremism”. This framing suggests that jihadist armed groups produce new forms of violence, mobilisation, and governance that threaten African states in unprecedented ways. However, it remains unclear whether jihadist armed groups have truly had a revolutionary impact on contemporary conflict dynamics. Some insist that jihadist violence largely continues patterns seen in earlier conflicts. This project challenges this assumption.

The project “Governing Jihad in Africa” innovates by treating jihad as a social, economic and political phenomenon and by examining how it governs and is governed across three different domains: (1) norms—how ideology shapes jihad and the values jihadi armed groups represent and systemically seek to enforce; (2) political economy and spatial expansion—how ideology and pragmatism guide the generation and use of resources; and (3) violence and counter-violence—how ideology and tactical imperatives influence conflict strategies and targets.

Considering local and global factors, the project team conducts joint field research and archival work, uses process tracing and systematic historical analysis to explore how jihadist ideologies and their armed promoters shape conflict in three regions: Mali and the Sahel region, Nigeria and Mozambique.