Effects of the Boko Haram Insurgency Group in West and Central Africa

Abstract

Demonstrated by the last decade of conflict, the next adversary the U.S. military will contend against will be unconventional. Often, these unconventional threats begin small in size and limited in scope of influence. However, when the host nation government ineffectively controls these threats, international military intervention is usually required. Boko Haram (BH) is one of these insurgent groups that began small and later spread outside the control of their host government. Today, BH has expanded its operational reach outside of Nigeria and inside the neighboring countries of Niger, Chad, and Cameroon. Due to Nigeria's inability to combat it, BH is now affecting the social, economic, and military aspects of governance in these four countries. Consequently, the U.S. military is now required to assist these African countries in combatting BH. Since 2013, the U.S. military conducted five phase zero operations against BH. It is the purpose of this thesis to determine what effects, if any, BH had on the governments of these four case countries. Understanding these effects will provide important insight into why the affected countries were alone incapable of combatting BH and what future U.S. military phase zero operations must occur in order to achieve successful intervention.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 10, 2016
Accession Number
AD1020337

Entities

People

  • Andrew D Nicholson

Organizations

  • United States Army Command and General Staff College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • C4I
  • Engineered Resilient Systems
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Commerce
  • Education
  • Employment
  • Geography
  • Governments
  • Guerrilla Warfare
  • Insurgency
  • Man Borne Improvised Explosive Devices
  • Military Budgets
  • Military Personnel
  • Military Science
  • National Security
  • Students
  • Terrorism
  • Terrorists
  • United States
  • Warfare

Readers

  • International Relations, focusing on Korea-Africa and North Korea-South Korea relations, and Nigeria-Latin American Relations.
  • Military and Counterinsurgency Studies.
  • Strategic Security Studies