The RESWA project – Dynamics of Conflict and Instability in the West African Regional Security Complex investigates the main drivers and dynamics of insecurity and conflict in West Africa and the Sahel. It examines how international geopolitical competition, democratic backsliding, and jihadist insurgencies interact and reinforce one another, contributing to the emergence of a regional (in)security system that is reshaping borders, patterns of cooperation, and conflict within a new geopolitical complex. To this end, the project focuses on the agency, strategies, and mechanisms of negotiation, competition, and adaptation employed by the three main sets of actors involved in the (re)configuration of the West African/Sahel regional complex: international actors, local regimes, and jihadist insurgent groups.

Through this analytical approach, RESWA aims to make original contributions to both academic scholarship and policy debates by drawing lessons from the Sahelian case and developing recommendations on how to address the expansion of insecurity into West Africa.

Building on these objectives, RESWA seeks to generate impact at multiple levels. First, the project aims to produce new knowledge on a region where conducting research is becoming increasingly challenging. Generating evidence from conflict-affected areas is of growing importance for both the academic community and policymakers. Fieldwork makes it possible to overcome the limitations associated with excessive reliance on theories, causal models, and assumptions developed from afar. This is particularly important in contexts of conflict and crisis, where meanings, identities, and motivations are fluid and constantly contested. At the same time, knowledge production itself is undergoing profound transformations, partly as a result of the securitization of research through institutional and disciplinary practices. While adhering to the highest ethical and security standards for research in conflict settings, RESWA is designed to address these challenges by developing a research strategy based on close and critical collaboration between the research team and local researchers and partners. In doing so, the project seeks to advance innovative mixed-methods approaches that can inform and support future research in conflict-affected environments.

Second, RESWA engages with and advances several key academic debates on contemporary transformations in international security. In particular, the project investigates how international geopolitical competition and democratic backsliding across the Global South are reshaping the forms, norms, and practices of international intervention and crisis management, and how these changes influence the strategies and responses of transnational armed organizations. Specifically, RESWA aims to:

Finally, given the growing strategic importance of West Africa and the Sahel for European policymakers and security practitioners, RESWA contributes to ongoing international policy debates on the diffusion of insecurity across the African continent. The project seeks to provide evidence-based recommendations for addressing political instability and insecurity in West Africa while supporting more informed, context-sensitive, and sustainable policy responses.