Publication
Transnational counterterrorism assemblages: the case of preventing and countering violent extremism in Mali
In this article, Silvia D'Amato and Edoardo Baldaro explore how the threat of terrorism has been addressed at the policy level by offering a fine-grained analysis of a specific preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) project implemented in Mali between 2018 and 2021 by a composite mix of international and national practitioners.
- Author
- Sïlvia D'Amato, Edoardo Baldaro
- Date
- 31 October 2023
- Links
- Read the full article here
Despite the current and almost complete detachment from the international and European security community, Mali has been, for a long time, a critical actor in the construction of what we identify as a transnational counterterrorism assemblage. This article specifically focuses on three parts of the process leading to the assemblage: (1) the context and the political opportunities behind its creation, (2) how a specific north/south epistemic community of experts and practitioners has emerged in Mali and shaped the cognitive, normative and practical dimensions of the policyfield and finally (3) the mechanisms at work in the practice of counterterrorism, from design to implementation on the ground.
In this article, the authors show how current P/CVE activities are, rather, defining new social standards and practices of security elaborated at the intersection of the north/south divide. They offer some reflections on the unexpected consequences of such a construction in relation to the following national and international political crisis of the country.