Urban-Rural Geographies of Political Violence in North and West Africa

Steven Radil; Olivier Walter; Nicholas M Dorward; Matthew Pflaum

doi:10.1080/19392206.2023.2251286

Urban-Rural Geographies of Political Violence in North and West Africa

Steven Radil^*, Olivier Walter, Nicholas M Dorward, Matthew Pflaum

^*Corresponding author for this work

Bristol Poverty Institute

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

8 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This paper assesses the relationship between population density and political violence within North and West Africa. We find that while most violence currently occurs in rural areas, it also exhibits a classic distance-decay effect, commonly occurring near urbanized places. Regional differences are evident as Jihadist-led violence is increasingly rural in West Africa while urban violence was more common in North Africa. Important difference in states with major conflict are also present, exemplified by urbanized violence in Nigeria and rural violence in Mali. Our findings therefore provide mixed evidence for the typical “urbanization of conflict” discourse in the literature.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	199-222
Number of pages	24
Journal	African Security
Volume	16
Issue number	2-3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/19392206.2023.2251286
Publication status	Published - 9 Sept 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by OECD Sahel and West Africa Club under grant number AWD09867 and the Economic and Social Research Council under grant number 1926184.

Publisher Copyright:
© This work was authored as part of the Contributor’s official duties as an Employee of the United States Government and is therefore a work of the United States Government. In accordance with 17 U.S.C. 105, no copyright protection is available for such works under U.S. Law.

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SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

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title = "Urban-Rural Geographies of Political Violence in North and West Africa",

abstract = "This paper assesses the relationship between population density and political violence within North and West Africa. We find that while most violence currently occurs in rural areas, it also exhibits a classic distance-decay effect, commonly occurring near urbanized places. Regional differences are evident as Jihadist-led violence is increasingly rural in West Africa while urban violence was more common in North Africa. Important difference in states with major conflict are also present, exemplified by urbanized violence in Nigeria and rural violence in Mali. Our findings therefore provide mixed evidence for the typical “urbanization of conflict” discourse in the literature.",

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AU - Dorward, Nicholas M

AU - Pflaum, Matthew

N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported by OECD Sahel and West Africa Club under grant number AWD09867 and the Economic and Social Research Council under grant number 1926184. Publisher Copyright: © This work was authored as part of the Contributor’s official duties as an Employee of the United States Government and is therefore a work of the United States Government. In accordance with 17 U.S.C. 105, no copyright protection is available for such works under U.S. Law.

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N2 - This paper assesses the relationship between population density and political violence within North and West Africa. We find that while most violence currently occurs in rural areas, it also exhibits a classic distance-decay effect, commonly occurring near urbanized places. Regional differences are evident as Jihadist-led violence is increasingly rural in West Africa while urban violence was more common in North Africa. Important difference in states with major conflict are also present, exemplified by urbanized violence in Nigeria and rural violence in Mali. Our findings therefore provide mixed evidence for the typical “urbanization of conflict” discourse in the literature.

AB - This paper assesses the relationship between population density and political violence within North and West Africa. We find that while most violence currently occurs in rural areas, it also exhibits a classic distance-decay effect, commonly occurring near urbanized places. Regional differences are evident as Jihadist-led violence is increasingly rural in West Africa while urban violence was more common in North Africa. Important difference in states with major conflict are also present, exemplified by urbanized violence in Nigeria and rural violence in Mali. Our findings therefore provide mixed evidence for the typical “urbanization of conflict” discourse in the literature.

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DO - 10.1080/19392206.2023.2251286

M3 - Article (Academic Journal)

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VL - 16

SP - 199

EP - 222

JO - African Security

JF - African Security

IS - 2-3

ER -

Urban-Rural Geographies of Political Violence in North and West Africa

Abstract

Bibliographical note

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