The Crisis of the African State Globalization, Tribalism, and Jihadism in the Twenty-First Century

This book focuses on security problems facing the twenty-first-century African state. Through multiple essays, the authors explore both current and past security issues associated with tribal warfare and jihadist terrorism within a rapidly changing global context where state sovereignty and institutional capability is in decline. Historic and modern situations have coalesced to create unique security challenges for many African states.A comprehensive analysis of how Islamic radicalism, tribal conflicts, and globalization merge to complicate African security is frequently missing from the literature. These three forces conjoin in some African countries to create vexing security challenges. Amy Chua's excellent book, World on Fire, explores some of these issues albeit in a very general way.1 However, given the lack of a systematic exploration of these issues, the authors of this volume hope to make such a contribution. We also aspire to illuminate how tribal animosity, civil war, and reconciliation are being handled in select African countries. We shall accomplish these goals using a state-centric focus.