NİJERYA'DA BOKO HARAM VE TERÖRİZM: KÖKEN, ETKİ VE HÜKÜMET TEPKİSİ ÜZERİNE YANSIMALAR

Abstract

For over a decade, Boko Haram has emerged as one of the biggest security threats facing not only Nigeria, but the larger Sahel and Lake Chad Basin. Government efforts to counter the group are yet to prove successful in eliminating this threat. This article examines the emergence of Boko Haram from a historical perspective that draws attention to old patterns of political resistance dissimilar to other parts of the country from the colonial era. The study highlights the deep social, economic and political impacts of the organization and reflects on the nature of government response. This article argues that while the emergence of the group has strong attachment to economic and political grievances such as poverty, underdevelopment and political marginalization, it is the framing of these grievances into a radical ideology sustained by entrenched ethnoreligious prisms that sustains Boko Haram terror activities in Nigeria. While the article appreciates the counterterrorism, measures adopted the by government, it also provides a critic of those measures and attempts to offer recommendations on how they can be strengthened to be more effective.