Boko Haram Paradigm

Addressing the Resilience of Boko Haram

The paper has argued so far that the state failure paradigm is helpful in understanding the environment in which Boko Haram operates, but that it is less valuable for comprehending why the insurgent group emerged only in 2009 and in North-East Nigeria, as well as its development over time. Indeed, since the new leadership of Abubakar Shekau in 2010, Boko Haram has been undergoing several transformations in both its tactics and targets . This is because the dynamism of political and religious interactions adapts to external events, as well as internal disagreements. For instance, in 2011, the group attacked the UN headquarters in the capital city Abuja, taking its campaign to a new international level

By doing so, Boko Haram could get more legitimacy thus increasing recruits, funding and logistics. The group would also benefit from IS’ guidance in media warfare and propaganda . At the same time, IS was expected to get more international legitimacy as a global caliphate. However, while it is hard to determine the strategic significance of this affiliation, what is fundamental to recognise for the scope of this paper is the ability of Boko Haram to adapt to a changing environment and to seize opportunities. Therefore, by focusing primarily on the state rather than the group itself, state failure literature fails to notice these transformations. Indeed, while still avoiding a ‘kitchen sink effect’ where anything could explain the insurgency, there is the need for a paradigm that illustrates the interplay between the different levels influencing the group: the local, the national, the international, but also the ethno-political and the religious

Due to its focus on technocratic solutions, the state failure paradigm overlooks gender issues related to the insurgency at the expense of a broader and nuanced understanding of the phenomenon. Indeed, since 2009, Boko Haram has devoted significant attention to women in both its propaganda and actions. Recent literature points to the fact that Boko Haram calls for severe restrictions on women in some aspects of life but it also encourages their access to Islamic education, thus becoming involved in the debate around the role of women in society in North-East Nigeria . In an environment where poverty, early marriage and illiteracy are the norm, a growing number of women see in Boko Haram the opportunity to advance their rights