Roundtable
COUNTERRR Project Launch & Roundtable Discussions: Current trends in the study of government and community responses to jihadi insurgencies in Africa
- Date
- Thursday 13 November 2025
- Time
- Location
-
Wijnhaven
Turfmarkt 99
2511 DP The Hague - Room
- 3.12A/B
This event will serve as the project launch of the COUNTERRR project. COUNTERRR examines domestic responses to jihadist armed groups in Africa, analyzing how state repression and community resistance emerge and affect the evolution of security across Mali, Nigeria, and Mozambique. The project explores, through fieldwork in the project countries, why domestic actors choose varied strategies—such as state repression, foreign intervention, nonviolent or violent community resistance—when countering jihadist threats and examines the effects of these strategies on conflict stabilization or escalation.
We will present the project’s main goals and discuss current trends in the study of government and community responses to jihadi insurgencies in Africa together with experts in the field. One roundtable will focus on the study of government responses, and the other roundtable will focus on the study of community responses to jihadi insurgencies.
Session 1, Wijnhaven - 3.12A/B
13:00-13:15 Welcome and short COUNTERRR project overview
13:15-15:00 Roundtable I: Current trends in the study of government responses to jihadi insurgencies in Africa
Speakers:
- Mirjam de Bruijn, Professor of Contemporary History and Anthropology of Africa, Leiden University
- Kars de Bruijne, Programme Lead West Africa and Sahel & Senior Research Fellow, Clingendael (Netherlands Institute of International Relations)
- Leila Demarest, Associate Professor of Political Science, Leiden University
- Malte Lierl, Senior Research Fellow, Clingendael (Netherlands Institute of International Relations)
- Emmanuel Okpe, PhD Candidate COUNTERRR, Leiden University
- Jonah Schulhofer-Wohl, Senior Assistant Professor of Political Science, Leiden University
Session 2, Wijnhaven - 2.58
15:15-17:00 Roundtable II: Current trends in the study of community responses to jihadi insurgencies in Africa
Speakers:
- Imrana Buba, Doctoral Research Fellow, Oslo University
- Ivan Dunduro, PhD Candidate COUNTERRR, Leiden University
- Yvan Guichaoua, Senior Researcher, Bonn International Center for Conflict Studies
- Robert Kluijver, Guest Researcher, Leiden University
- Borgers Nhamirre, Researcher on Peace, Security, and Governance, Institute for Security Studies (ISS Africa) & PhD Candidate, Queen’s University Belfast
- Simon Polinder, Postdoctoral Researcher Religion, Security and Social Transformation, Utrecht University