This publication examines the role of border regions in shaping patterns of violence since the end of the 1990s in North and West Africa. Using the innovative OECD Spatial Conflict Dynamics indicator (SCDi), the report looks at the growing relationship between political violence and borderlands...

Conflicts in North and West Africa have become more violent and widespread than in the past. They have also become more difficult to resolve due to the complex relationships between a growing number of belligerents with diverging agendas. Building on a dataset of more than 36 000 violent events...

Africa is projected to have the fastest urban growth rate in the world: by 2050, Africa’s cities will be home to an additional 950 million people. Much of this growth is taking place in small and medium-sized towns. Africa’s urban transition offers great opportunities but it also poses...

This report, part of the “Cities” collection, highlights the contribution of border towns to the process of regional integration in West Africa. For 18 countries, six indicators are used to identify the specificities of border towns at the local, national and international levels:...

This report, part of the “Cities” collection, provides an analysis of the demographic and morphological changes in West African border cities since the mid-20th century. Using the Africapolis harmonised database makes it possible to show that since 1950 border cities have experienced higher...

This report, part of the “Cities” collection, analyses the spatial distribution of formal enter¬prises and health infrastructure in West Africa. The analysis shows that sectors crucial for regional integration are concentrated in economic capitals rather than in border areas. These results...

This report, part of the “Cities” collection, analyses road accessibility, transport corridors and checkpoints set up in border towns in West Africa. An innovative model shows that the population base of border towns could be 14% greater if there were no delays at border crossings. The...

The objective of this paper is to identify the manifold security threats confronting the Republic of Niger. It examines if and how various domestic and external actors may exploit Niger’s adverse structural conditions to their benefit and derives possible future scenarios and recommendations...