Over decades, flawed strategic choices by EU member states as well as local actors have contributed to a rising tide of instability that has turned the Sahel into a global flashpoint. The behavior of domestic and external actors has been shaped by destructive colonial legacies and postcolonial patronage systems that reinforced clientelist authoritarianism. Now the challenges generated by the creeping collapse of these power structures provides three key lessons for European policymakers. The most visible one pertains to how the remnants of neocolonial networks that sustained European influence long after formal imperial rule ended in African states are close to a breaking point. But that generated complacency within EU institutions over the stability of the system widely known as “Francafrique.”

Source: The North Africa Journal August 09, 2023 13:02 UTC