Ungoverned Spaces in Africa

Since the end of the Cold War era, a more complex global security environment has led to a proliferation of so-called 'ungoverned spaces' in Africa, in which Violent Non State Actors and unregulated private military and security companies have emerged as powerful and persistent forces.

This book shines a light on the inevitable political, economic, and security dilemmas that have resulted, analysing the conditions which have led to the flourishing of terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaeda in Magreb (AQIM), Boko Haram and the Islamic State in West African Province (ISWAP) - the combined effect of which threatens the destabilization of the post-colonial African security architecture.

Usman A. Tar is Professor and Head, Centre for Defence Studies and Documentation as well as Department of Defence and Security Studies, Nigerian Defence Academy, Nigeria. He is the author of The Politics of Neoliberal Democracy in Africa (IB Tauris, 2009); and editor of Globalization in Africa: Perspectives on Development, Security, and the Environment (2016).

Bashir Bala is Captain in the Nigerian Army and a Doctoral Candidate for PhD Strategy and Security Studies at the University of Exeter, UK. He is the co-author of Insurgency and Counter- Insurgency in Nigeria: Perspectives on the Nigerian Army Operation Against Boko Haram (2019) and co-editor of New Architecture for Regional Security in Africa: Perspectives on Counter-Terrorism and Counter-Insurgency in the Lake Chad Basin (2020).