United States' Security Governance in Nigeria: Implications on Counterterrorism Strategies Against Boko Haram. (December 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Iwuoha, Victor Chidubem
• Is Part Of: Journal of Asian and African studies. Volume 54:Number 8(2019)
• Page Start: 1175
• Page End: 1194
• Publication Date: 2019-12
• Subjects: Boko Haram -- military strategy -- counterterrorism -- security governance -- military spending -- Nigeria -- United States -- intelligence; Social change -- Africa -- Periodicals; Social change -- Asia -- Periodicals; Economic development -- Africa -- Periodicals; Economic development -- Asia -- Periodicals; Africa -- Social conditions -- Periodicals; Asia -- Social conditions -- Periodicals; Africa -- Periodicals; Asia -- Periodicals; 950
• DOI: 10.1177/0021909619862846
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0021-9096

Abstract

Why did decade-long US security cooperation and counterterrorism engagements in Nigeria fail to bring down Boko Haram or at least weaken its terrorist structures and transnational spread? There is little agreement among scholars on the impact and implications of US security engagements in Nigeria on the military's counterterrorism strategies. I argue that disconnects between the components and dimensions of US–Nigeria security cooperation are implicated in the intractability of Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria. I develop the concept of 'unwilling' and/or 'less cooperative states' to underscore the vulnerability of counterterrorism-assistance-seeking states and their disconnectedness/asynergy with their foreign counterterrorism partners.