The “Clubs of Heads of State” from Below

This study examines local perceptions of an African regional inter­vention – by the African Union and ECOWAS in Burkina Faso in 2014/15 – as well as the know­ledge about these organi­sations held by different local actors from various social strata. The study is the result of colla­borative and empirically compre­hensive research carried out in the capital and several loca­lities in the country. We show that the two African regional organi­sations are more locally con­tested than is depicted in the academic litera­ture and, at the same time, perceived more posi­tively than suggested by the dominant social imaginary of these organi­sations as “clubs of heads of state”.