Search on Ifri.org

About Ifri

Frequent searches

Suggestions

Of Walls and Men: Securing African Borders in the 21st Century

Studies
|
Date de publication
|
Référence taxonomie collections
Focus Stratégique
|
Références
Focus stratégique, No. 85 bis, November 2018
Image de couverture de la publication
couv_focus85bis_page_1.jpg
Accroche

African borders are well-known for their porosity. Although they are crucial economic interfaces, they also crystallize political and security tensions, in both inter-state wars and intra-state conflicts involving rebels or autonomist groups. 

Corps analyses
The continent’s internal borders can also be exploited as a resource fueling these confrontations through trafficking, contraband, and corruption but also because they may offer the protection of a diplomatic sanctuary. To deal with these issues, the African defense and security forces need to engage in various strategies aimed at securing these areas. In order to do so, they tend to resort to two major types of mechanisms. On the one hand, the « walls » and other static devices which can rely on rather traditional means or use new innovative technologies. On the other hand, the security forces, which have to increase their mobility and be able to cooperate both on a national and international level in order to guarantee their efficiency.
 
 

 

Decoration

Available in:

ISBN / ISSN

978-2-36567-948-0

Share

Download the full analysis

This page contains only a summary of our work. If you would like to have access to all the information from our research on the subject, you can download the full version in PDF format.

Of Walls and Men: Securing African Borders in the 21st Century

Decoration
Author(s)
Image principale
 A soldier watching a sunset on an armored infantry fighting vehicle
Security Studies Center
Accroche centre

Heir to a tradition dating back to the founding of Ifri, the Security Studies Center provides public and private decision-makers as well as the general public with the keys to understanding power relations and contemporary modes of conflict as well as those to come. Through its positioning at the juncture of politics and operations, the credibility of its civil-military team and the wide distribution of its publications in French and English, the Center for Security Studies constitutes in the French landscape of think tanks a unique center of research and influence on the national and international defense debate.

Image principale

Finland: The Ally Who Came in from the Cold

Date de publication
10 April 2026
Accroche

Among all European countries, Finland is perhaps the one whose strategic culture and military model have changed the least since the end of the Cold War. Built after the end of the Second World War to deter a potential new Soviet invasion, this model enabled Finland to serve as an example of European rearmament.

Image principale

Stability under Pressure. A Pakistani View on Nuclear Deterrence after Pahalgam

Date de publication
24 June 2026
Accroche

The May 2025 India-Pakistan crisis after the Pahalgam attack has generated a familiar but incomplete debate: did nuclear deterrence work, or did it merely allow both sides to fight a limited war under the nuclear shadow? The better answer is that deterrence worked at the level at which it was designed to work. It prevented a general war and an uncontrolled vertical escalation, and kept nuclear weapons in the background. But it did not prevent India from attempting to carve out space for conventional action, nor did it prevent Pakistan from responding conventionally to restore deterrence credibility.

Rabia Akhtar
Image principale

Strategic Shift in NATO’s Support for Ukraine. A Study of NSATU and PURL Initiatives

Date de publication
04 June 2026
Accroche

This study analyzes a significant transformation in NATO’s practical support to Ukraine, marked by the establishment of the NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine (NSATU) mission and the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) funding mechanism.

Iryna KRASNOSHTAN
Image principale

French Forward Deterrence: What Is in It for the Baltic States?

Date de publication
25 May 2026
Accroche

For what may be its most significant stress test since the end of the Cold War, European deterrence is under strain. Russia’s war against Ukraine has demonstrated Moscow’s willingness to use force and its ability to combine conventional operations with nuclear signalling, coercive rhetoric, and hybrid actions. At the same time, the gradual deterioration of transatlantic relations has revived concerns about the reliability of extended deterrence.

How can this study be cited?

Image de couverture de la publication
couv_focus85bis_page_1.jpg
Laurent TOUCHARD, « Of Walls and Men: Securing African Borders in the 21st Century », Studies, Focus Stratégique, Ifri, 30 November 2018.
Copy
Image de couverture de la publication
couv_focus85bis_page_1.jpg

Of Walls and Men: Securing African Borders in the 21st Century