Pastoralists and the State ... and 'islamic State' On Eastern Niger's Frontier: Between Evasion And Engagement

Abstract

In the current situation of militant Islamist groups encroaching on periph- eral areas of different Sahelian states, mobile pastoralists are often accused of sympathising or collaborating with jihadists. Examining this phenom- enon with a focus on eastern Niger and in the context of the Boko Haram crisis in the Lake Chad basin, this article relates it to the debates about incorporation and evasion of pastoralists with regard to state and society, and frontiers and borderlands as spaces not only of difficult governance but also of economic and political opportunities.