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Human smuggling across Niger: state-sponsored protection rackets and contradictory security imperatives

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 March 2018

Luca Raineri
Luca Raineri*
Affiliation:
Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Piazza Martiri della Libertà 33, 56127 Pisa, Italy
*
Email: rai_neri@hotmail.com
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Abstract

In recent years, Niger has gained prominence as a hub for the smuggling of migrants from West Africa to North Africa and Europe. Urged on by European concerns, Niamey has adopted repressive measures to contain such migrations in the region. These, however, have largely failed, and have yielded unintended and unexpected results, which challenge policy predictions. Drawing on extensive fieldwork, the article suggests that contradictory security imperatives have brought about the de facto regularisation of human smuggling. As a result, protection rackets sponsored by the state through patronage networks have severely limited the impact of externally sponsored measures to counteract irregular migration.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 56 , Issue 1 , March 2018 , pp. 63 - 86
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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