Local perceptions of regional interventions: AU and ECOWAS in Burkina Faso and The Gambia
African regional organizations such as the African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have become central actors in the area of peace and security in Africa: for instance through mediation in political and constitutional crises (such as 2014 in Burkina Faso and 2016 in The Gambia) or through the deployment of peacekeeping missions (as for instance in Mali and South Sudan). With this, African regional organizations increasingly shape order(s) and politics in African states and thus the conditions under which Africans live today.
In their peace-making activities both organizations are guided by a ‘people-centred’ discourse, which is for instance reflected in norms of ‘local ownership’ and ‘inclusive peace-making’. Yet contrary to this rhetoric, the perspectives of those affected by these norms and interventions have hitherto received scant attention in the scholarly debate. Against this background, this research project seeks to turn the hitherto dominant top-down perspective on African regional organizations upside down, by scrutinizing how people in societies affected by regional interventions perceive and evaluate both the intervention and its responsible regional organization. More concretely, we seek to gauge reflections on concrete intervention experiences, the knowledge people hold about African regional organizations, as well more general expectations towards them. On the one hand, this aims at establishing a new analytical perspective on African regional organizations. On the other hand, reconstructing concrete experiences and perceptions of interventions will allow us to generate new knowledge on the legitimacy and effectiveness of African intervention politics.
The project is drawing on case studies from regional interventions Burkina Faso (2014/15) and The Gambia (2016/17), two countries in which AU and ECOWAS intervened in the midst of a political crisis and thus decisively shaped how this crisis came to be resolved. Methodically, the project is based on focus group discussions, interviews as well as media analyses. The project is carried out in close cooperation with (junior) scholars from both countries, with whom field research in teams and the joint publication of the project results are planned.
- How African Regional Interventions are Perceived on the Ground: Contestation and Multiplexity | 2023
Witt, Antonia / Bah, Omar M / Birchinger, Sophia / Jaw, Sait Matty / Schnabel, Simone (2023): How African Regional Interventions are Perceived on the Ground: Contestation and Multiplexity, in: International Peacekeeping, 1–29, DOI: 10.1080/13533312.2023.2262922.
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- Perspectives sociétales sur les interventions en Afrique : trois approches méthodologiques | 2023
Witt, Antonia (2023): Perspectives sociétales sur les interventions en Afrique : trois approches méthodologiques, in: Döring, Katharina P.W./Engel, Ulf/Gelot, Linnea/Herpolsheimer, Jens (Hg.), Recherches sur la vie intérieure de l’Architecture Africaine de Paix et de Sécurité, Leiden: Brill, 85–110, 10.1163/9789004546417_005.
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- Forging an African Union Identity: The Power of Experience | 2023
Witt, Antonia (2023): Forging an African Union Identity: The Power of Experience, in: Global Studies Quarterly, 3:3, 1–12, DOI: 10.1093/isagsq/ksad052.
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- “Siding with the people” or “Occupying force”? Local perceptions of African Union and ECOWAS interventions in the Gambia | 2023
Birchinger, Sophia / Jaw, Sait Matty / Bah, Omar M / Witt, Antonia (2023): “Siding with the people” or “Occupying force”? Local perceptions of African Union and ECOWAS interventions in the Gambia, PRIF Report 3/2023, Frankfurt/M, DOI: 10.48809/prifrep2303.
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- The “Clubs of Heads of State” from Below | 2022
Schnabel, Simone / Witt, Antonia / Konkobo, Adjara (2022): The “Clubs of Heads of State” from Below. Local perceptions of the African Union, ECOWAS and their 2014/15 interventions in Burkina Faso, PRIF Report 14/2022, Frankfurt/M, DOI: 10.48809/prifrep2214.
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- Heimvorteil? | 2022
Witt, Antonia / Bah, Omar M / Birchinger, Sophia / Jaw, Sait Matty / Schnabel, Simone (2022): Heimvorteil? Lokale Perspektiven auf die Friedensbemühungen afrikanischer Regionalorganisationen, in: Forschung Frankfurt, 2022:1, 30–34, www.forschung-frankfurt.uni-frankfurt.de/(...).
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- Les « syndicats des chefs d’État » sur le terrain | 2022
Schnabel, Simone / Witt, Antonia / Konkobo, Adjara (2022): Les « syndicats des chefs d’État » sur le terrain. Perceptions locales de l’Union Africaine, de la CEDEAO et de leurs interventions au Burkina Faso en 2014/2015, PRIF Report 11/2022, Frankfurt/M, DOI: 10.48809/prifrep2211.
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- Societal Perspectives on African Interventions | 2021
Witt, Antonia (2021): Societal Perspectives on African Interventions, in: Döring, Katharina P.W./Engel, Ulf/Gelot, Linnéa/Herpolsheimer, Jens (eds), Researching the Inner Life of the African Peace and Security Architecture. APSA Inside-Out, Leiden: Brill, 78–100, www.brill.com/(...).
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- Mehr als Wahlen | 2020
Schnabel, Simone (2020): Mehr als Wahlen. Burkina Faso wählt friedlich, doch der Frieden ist weit entfernt, PRIF Spotlight 16/2020, Frankfurt/M.
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- Understanding Societal Perspectives on African Interventions | 2020
Witt, Antonia (2020): Understanding Societal Perspectives on African Interventions. A Methodological Agenda, PRIF Working Papers No. 50, Frankfurt/M.
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- Taking Intervention Politics Seriously | 2020
Witt, Antonia / Schnabel, Simone (2020): Taking Intervention Politics Seriously. Media Debates and the Contestation of African Regional Interventions ‘from Below’, in: Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, 14:2, 271-288, DOI: 10.1080/17502977.2020.1736415.
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- Where Regional Norms Matter | 2019
Witt, Antonia (2019): Where Regional Norms Matter. Contestation and the Domestic Impact of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, in: Africa Spectrum, 54:2, 106–126, https://doi.org/10.1177/0002039719848513.
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- Whose Charter? | 2019
Witt, Antonia (2019): Whose Charter? How civil society makes (no) use of the African Democracy Charter, PRIF Spotlight 5/2019, Frankfurt/M.
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- African Regional Organizations Seen From Below: Theorizing Legitimacy Beyond the European Nation-State | 2018
Schnabel, Simone (2018): African Regional Organizations Seen From Below: Theorizing Legitimacy Beyond the European Nation-State, PRIF Working Papers No. 42, Frankfurt/M.
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- African Peace Interventions Seen ‘from Below’ | 2018
Witt, Antonia (ed.), (2018): African Peace Interventions Seen ‘from Below’. Politics and Disconnects, (Special Issue “South African Journal of International Affairs” 25:1), Table of Contents at Taylor & Francis.
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- Studying African Interventions ‘from Below’ | 2018
Witt, Antonia (2018): Studying African Interventions ‘from Below’. Exploring Practices, Knowledges and Perceptions, in: South African Journal of International Affairs, Special Issue, 25:1, 1–19, DOI: 10.1080/10220461.2018.1417904.
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- Towards Studying African Interventions ‘from Below’ – A Short Conclusion | 2018
Witt, Antonia / Khadiagala, Gilbert M. (2018): Towards Studying African Interventions ‘from Below’ – A Short Conclusion, in: South African Journal of International Affairs, Special Issue, 25:1, 133–139, DOI: 10.1080/10220461.2018.1438917.
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