Assessing the Causes of Strategic Realignment in Sahelian States

Since the agreement of the Millennium Development Goals, many of the international community’s foremost stabilisation efforts have unravelled, with cascading instability afflicting neighboring states. Multiple governments and political entities have begun to turn away from long-term Western security partnerships, and realign with actors such as Russia. This realignment has been pursued even though Russia’s offer often appears poorer in objective terms. Jack Watling and Nina Wilén explore the drivers and dynamics of the realignment that has gripped Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.◼.