When '''limited statehood' becomes an asset. Fighting terrorism, migration and the consequences of 'Western' economic and military support to the Sahel.

Since the turn of the century, two developments have radically changed the relationship between West Africa and the European Union and the United States. First, the terrorist attacks on the US in 2001 pushed the global fight against terrorism to the top of the international agenda. Second, migration from Africa turned migration into one of the hottest issues in European politics. The paper asks what have been the consequences of the remarkable increase in Western attention to the region. The first argument states that the lack of territorial control has been an asset for the governments in Mali, Niger, and Chad because it led to huge inflows of economic and military support. The link between limited statehood and the conspicuous inflow of resources reflected a coincidence of interests between the elites in the three African countries and the interests of the West, meaning the United States and Europe. The second argument states that inflows propped up the three Sahel governments and their undemocratic rule, thereby underpinning their inclination to avoid domestic reforms. The coincidence of interests in regime survival and the interests of the US and the EU in security undermined the goals of the West in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]