Olivier J Walther @ojwalther Twitter profile

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

3 days

Call for Papers @theAAG 2025 – Armed Conflicts and Transport Infrastructure in Africa and Beyond

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

5 years

West African border cities are smaller, more dense and grow faster than other cities. We explain why in a new series of @SWAC_OECD papers

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

6 years

Time to make this official: I am thrilled to announce that I will be joining the faculty of the Department of Geography @UF this fall! So excited to join such a stellar department! Flor-i-da!

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

1 year

It breaks my heart to realize that the greatest beneficiaries of the coups in the Sahel may not be in Niamey, Ouaga or Bamako but in the Liptako, Parc du W, and creeping along the borders of northern Benin, Ghana and Togo, as our maps suggest. All the Jihadists have to do is wait

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

6 years

Our colleagues at @SWAC_OECD just launched their new online maps library: 400 maps of the Sahel and West Africa are available!

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

3 years

The Sahel Handbook is finally here!

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

1 year

As Nigeria flexes its muscle, let's not forget that 40% of violent events and more than half of the fatalities recorded in NWAfrica by @ACLEDINFO from 21-22 were in Nigeria. Half of the Nigerian territory is currently in conflict. Diplomacy should prevail

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

5 years

Which regions have experienced the highest levels of violence in North and West Africa? Do conflicts cluster or spread across the region? And how do military interventions affect conflict from Dakar to N’Djamena? It's all here

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

5 years

Border regions are proportionally more dangerous than other regions in West Africa. 10% of the victims registered since the late 1990s were located within 10 km from a border

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

4 years

Schmidt’s Foreign Intervention in Africa after the Cold War is available for open-access download

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

6 months

Violence tends to spread south, from the Sahel to the Gulf of Guinea. In this new @SWAC_OECD paper, we show that more than 10% of newly affected conflict zones are now located in the north of coastal countries,

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

5 months

West Africa has experienced 9 major holy wars (jihads) since the early 18th century, including the two currently underway in the Central Sahel and Lake Chad region. The last time a Jihadist insurgency was defeated militarily was in 1898, when Captain Gouraud captured Samori Touré

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

6 months

One of my favorites maps shows how each of the Sahelian sedentary cores is associated with a nomadic area in the Sahara. This organization has played a key role in the circulation of people, ideas and goods between North Africa and the Gulf of Guinea

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

2 years

Finally, a book that ties "together insurgent geographies with mobility studies", by @DanielAgbiboa

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

1 year

There are 20 large border markets between Niger and Nigeria. This @SWAC_OECD map shows how much time it takes to travel from any market in northern Nigeria. Border closures - not to mention war - will considerably affect regional integration in the Sahel

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

5 months

Very happy to announce that we've just signed a contract to edit the Routledge Handbook of African Borderlands! This 27-chapter book is a collaborative project of @AborneNetwork bringing 45 border scholars from Africa, North America and Europe together

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

5 years

Fellow geographers: this is one of the largest collections of maps on the Sahel and West Africa

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

1 year

Tenured and promoted (again)!

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

8 months

Ten years ago, who would have thought that (central) Chad would be the only island of relative stability in an otherwise war-torn region extending from Bamako to Addis Ababa?

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

3 years

The Palgrave Series in African Borderlands Studies is looking for manuscripts!

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

5 months

All I hear from West African policy makers at the moment is 'The West must give us more weapons or we'll ask the Russians'. As if the region needed more weapons. As if insurgencies could be defeated militarily. As if Jihadist weapons were not looted from state arsenals

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

3 years

Introducing our new special issue on security and trade in African borderlands in @jborderstudies

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

2 years

The Dynamics of Dust, an amazing book on Saharan conflicts, from Gao to Awbari, by @PhilippeDudouit

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

3 years

Isolated clusters of violence have started to coalesce in West Africa. Our new spatial indicator of political violence developed with @SWAC_OECD shows that more than half of the Nigerian territory is affected by one type of conflict or another in 2020

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

1 year

Niger’s economy has always been intricately linked to Nigeria. The rice supply chain that connects the two countries, for example, depends on 2000 traders based in border markets, as @LeenaHoffmann , @PaulMelly2 and @SWAC_OECD demonstrated

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

4 years

Looking forward to this week's colloquium on GIS and nomads in the Sahel with @oren_sa !

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

3 years

Read @GeorgeNugybaby 's excellent "Boundaries, Communities and State-making in West Africa" - reviewed in @jborderstudies here )

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

5 years

Border delays, checkpoints and road conditions reduce accessibility in West Africa - This new paper published in JTG measures what the accessibility of border cities would be if they were removed

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

8 months

West Africa is one of the most expensive regions to do business in the world, due to poor road conditions, roadblocks and border delays Burkina, Mali and Niger’s withdrawal from #ECOWAS can only make things worse for the majority of the Sahelian population

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

3 years

Our Dean of Sahelian Studies, back from Dakar, discussing Senegalese politics at today's Sahel seminar

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

2 years

If the situation continues to deteriorate in Mali, I wouldn't be surprised if Bamako fell without a fight

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

5 months

Côte d’Ivoire is building a new cross-border bridge in Chache to facilitate trade between Bouna (🇨🇮) and Bole (🇬🇭). To my knowledge, this is the only bridge on the Black Volta between Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Burkina. Africa needs better infrastructure

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

1 year

Border scholars should develop common protocols to collect and analyze border-related data. Africa is leading the way with the @UNDP Borderlands Data Forum

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

3 years

Who's fighting whom in the Central Sahel? More in the latest @SWAC_OECD report here:

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

2 years

It only took us geographers 21 years to model the travel geography of the 9/11 network – Read our Foreign Policy Essay on @lawfareblog ,

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

1 year

Formal trade has abruptly stopped beween Niger and its neighbors. In Gaya, hundreds of trucks are waiting at the border, loaded with agricultural products (credit: M. Koné)

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

7 months

Blaming France and #ECOWAS for everything that went wrong in the Sahel cannot be a long-term development strategy. What some of the poorest countries in the world, like Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, need the most is better schools, hospitals, roads and jobs

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

2 years

Some personal news: I am thrilled to share that after 7 fantastic years @jborderstudies , I will be joining @Pol_Geog_Jl as Associate Editor, with a particular focus on quantitative methods, conflict studies and/or Africa

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

5 years

Hooray!! Our paper on the diffusion of political violence in the Sahara-Sahel is out in @terpolv . Download it here for free:

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

2 years

Some personal news: after 2 years and a small fortune in legal fees, our green card has finally arrived!

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

5 years

There are now more than 59 one-stop border posts in Sub-Saharan Africa. We checked how many of them are really functioning in this @SWAC_OECD paper

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

1 year

Hundreds of passengers and trucks are still stranded at the Benin-Niger border due to the current political crisis. On the Nigerien side, in Gaya, the queue is several miles long (credit: M. Koné)

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

10 months

Our paper Urban-Rural Geographies of Political Violence in North and West Africa is now freely available on the @ASjournal__ website

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

8 months

3 landlocked countries quit ECOWAS. This is really bad. One of ECOWAS' key missions is/was to provide access to the Gulf of Guinea to Sahelian imports and exports

Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger quit ECOWAS

The leaders of the three Sahel nations said it was a "sovereign decision" to leave the Economic Community of West African States "without delay."

www.dw.com

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

3 years

The first paper of our special issue on Security and Trade in African Borderlands was published by @dalmar_thompson in @jborderstudies last week Six more papers will follow!

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

5 months

Benin and Togo have closed their borders to pastoralists from the Sahel. This study from @lasdel_labo describes the consequences of this policy of forced sedentarization carried out officially to combat terrorism

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

5 years

The combined military intervention of Nigeria and the MNJTF against Boko Haram neither eliminated nor relocated violence. Violence tends to persist at lower levels around specific places for longer durations around Lake Chad

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

7 months

West Africa has been affected by three major waves of jihad in 300 years. The current one is the most dangerous because the transnational expansion of Muslim identity challenges the legitimacy of postcolonial states, as Bill Miles explains here

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

2 years

The African Networks Lab enjoying a preconference dinner with @LAVillalon1 , and @ZHamoui in Paris

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

2 years

Our book 'African Border Disorders. Addressing Transnational Extremist Organizations' is now available in open access

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

7 years

A brief review of our edited book "African Border Disorders" by Nicolas van de Walle in @ForeignAffairs

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

1 year

One of the best pieces on the Niger coup I've read so far

Sahel Research Group

@UFSahelResearch

1 year

Interesting piece on Niger by our colleague Rahmane Idrissa in the New Left Review

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

2 years

Three generations of border scholars at #ABORNE2022

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

1 year

With French Professor Denis Retaillé, my mentor for many years and most probably the greatest Sahel expert on this side of the Atlantic

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

4 years

Africapolis, the ultimate report on African cities by our good friends of @SWAC_OECD , is finally out!

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

1 year

Celebrating 20+ years of research on the Sahel with @laurent_bossard and Marie at @SWAC_OECD in Paris

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

4 years

Woah. I have received 36 proposals for this special issue on security and trade in African borderlands, from Casablanca to Cape Town, and from Gambia to Gisenyi. A big thank you to everyone for making this call so successful

Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

4 years

Call for abstracts: Special issue on Security and Trade in African Borderlands, @jborderstudies , deadline Sep 15

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

4 years

When your friends publish too many good books...

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

4 years

Delayed by Covid for many months but finally here!

Sahel Research Group

@UFSahelResearch

4 years

Our report on the geography of conflict in North and West Africa has finally arrived in Gainesville! The online version is available here

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

1 year

Well, everyone I know IS talking about Niger around here

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

1 year

This interesting new paper by @Chris_W_Blair suggests that border fortification encourages insurgents to launch indirect attacks and develop cooperative relations with civilians

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

5 years

The changing geography of conflict in North and West Africa in 27 graphs and 44 maps. So glad this report is (almost) out!

SWAC OECD

@SWAC_OECD

5 years

Launch of our new report at the #Munich Security Conference tomorrow maps the intensity and concentration of violent events across three major hotspots of #violence : #Mali and Central #Sahel , Lake #Chad and #Libya Available 14/2: #MSC2020 #security

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

1 year

I am saddened by the number of Sahel experts who believe that an imperfect democracy is reason enough to justify a military coup. What did Churchill say about democraties again?

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

3 years

Very happy to introduce the Spatial Conflict Dynamics Indicator (SCDi) of Political Violence with @SteveRadil , David Russell and Marie Trémolières in @terpolv . A big thanks to @ACLEDINFO for the data

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

3 years

Our new report maps the changing rivalries and alliances among state forces, rebels, extremist organisations and their victims in 21 North and West African countries since 1997

SWAC OECD

@SWAC_OECD

3 years

📢IT'S OUT! Check out our🆕security report, including a mapping of #ConflictNetworks and the evolution of rivalries and alliances in 21 North and West African countries, including #Sahel . @SWAC_OECD @UFSahelResearch @CoalitionSahel ▶️

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

7 months

For Sahel buffs like us, it is easy to forget just how insignificant the Sahel is for the United States, both economically and politically

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

5 months

Thanks for a great panel at @theAAG , @and_bartolucci , @cfnwan and @DavidGuyRussell . See you in Detroit next year!

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

4 years

Border markets are key hubs in the West African regional livestock trade network, our new paper published in @PLOSONE with @v_valerioh shows

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

1 year

Our paper "Introducing the Spatial Conflict Dynamics Indicator of Political Violence" is now available in print in @terpolv . There are 50 free online copies here:

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

3 years

Beyond thrilled to see this new report launched in Munich tomorrow!

SWAC OECD

@SWAC_OECD

3 years

Tomorrow at the Munich Security Conference @SWAC_OECD will present its latest report: the largest assessment ever conducted of #conflict patterns in border regions, combining data on events and victims across North and West Africa. #MSC2022 #MunSecConf

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

1 year

Border Studies at 45: As we approach a metaphorical middle age, it is time to invest our energies into developing common theoretical and methodological frameworks

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

2 years

It took a while but the brand new @SWAC_OECD report on borders and conflict in NW Africa has finally arrived in Gainesville!

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

5 years

The new @SWAC_OECD reports on West African border cities have just arrived from Paris and they look awesome!

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

5 years

Key takeaways: - 2019 is on track to be the deadliest year in the Sahel since 1997; - Political violence is highly concentrated in border regions

SWAC OECD

@SWAC_OECD

5 years

🆕 En Afrique de l’Ouest, la libéralisation du #commerce n’est pas allée de pair avec un meilleur contrôle des zones- #fronti ères par les états. Le dernier rapport #s écurité du @swac_oecd analyse pourquoi ➡️ @ojwalther #afriquedelouest

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

5 years

Everything you have always wanted to know about West African border cities!

SWAC OECD

@SWAC_OECD

5 years

Discover #SWAC_OECD 's new “Cities” collection on the role of border towns for #regionalintegration in #WestAfrica . The research looks at the economic & institutional obstacles facing border towns and offers place-based policy options. #AUNiamey2019

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

2 years

My review of @DanielAgbiboa 's excellent book on the roots and routes of the Boko Haram/ISWAP insurgency in northern Nigeria in @SpacePolity

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

7 years

Our paper on political fragmentation and alliances among armed groups in Africa is out

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

5 years

My books and I have officially moved to @UFGeog !

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

7 years

African Border Disorders, our new book on transnational extremist organizations, is out! @TandF_Africa

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

3 years

This new @SWAC_OECD report examines whether borderlands are more violent than other regions, how the intensity of border violence has changed over time, which borderlands are the most violent, and why violence emerges near borders

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

5 months

The Sahel is worse off since the military coups

SWAC OECD

@SWAC_OECD

5 months

New report in the #WestAfricanPapers series on “Military coups, jihadism and insecurity in the Central Sahel” by Alexander Thurston ( @sahelblog ), who analyses the Sahelian coups of 2020-23 and the trajectories of #jihadism and #insecurity 👉

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

7 years

Nice to see our paper on Hezbollah’s criminal networks finally assigned to an issue of @terpolv

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

3 years

Another great book for my terrorism and space class, by @warnjason

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

1 year

Alienating Western and multinational donors is a risky strategy in the Sahel. In 2021, Niger received $1800 million from rich countries and multilateral institutions, or 12% of its GDP, according to the OECD

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

5 years

Back to Geography!

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

5 years

Africapolis provides the best data on African cities. Period.

SWAC OECD

@SWAC_OECD

5 years

#TBT In the lead up to the launch of #Africa 's Urbanisation Dynamics 2020, discover the top 3⃣ ways supports policy makers in making Africa's cities of the future more resilient, inclusive and sustainable #AfUD2020 #DevMatters

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

4 years

My first @NSF grant...

UF Geography

@UFGeog

4 years

#GeoGator Dr. @ojwalther & Drs. Kiker & Oderas - colleagues from @UF_ABE / @Livestock_Lab just received a new @NSF grant to study how #COVID19 is impacting international research networks. @UF @UF_CLAS

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

8 months

The Sahel military juntas want to leave ECOWAS, not UEMOA. Perhaps they remember Malian president Keïta and his painful experience of building monetary sovereignty without a strong economy. Faced with enormous difficulties, Mali appealed to France and returned to the FCFA in '84

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

2 years

GEO4024C - Terrorism and Space will be offered @UFGeog this coming Spring if you are interested in the geography of international terrorism

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

5 years

Cool to present our paper on border cities in Lome, one of the largest cross-border agglomerations in West Africa!

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

4 years

Mobility patterns around Lake Chad suggest that Boko Haram is highly fragmented. Our new paper with @rafaelprietoc and Neave O’Clery also identifies key routes frequently traveled by separate BH cells, possibly across borders

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

5 years

In West Africa, capital cities attract more than 90% of formal businesses crucial to regional integration. We argue that this is bad news for national cohesion in this @SWAC_OECD paper

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

7 years

New Rebel Contraband Dataset by @jamesigoewalsh @_justinconrad Beth Elise Whitaker and Katelin Hudak

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

8 months

To be updated - Regional organizations in Africa #ECOWAS

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

5 years

Just got word that our paper "Mapping international co-authorship networks in border studies" with @klatt_mk and Freerk Boedeltje was accepted for publication in @jborderstudies !

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

4 years

Nigeria is apparently reopening four land border crossing points (Seme, Illela, Maigatari, Mfun)

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

2 years

Thanks for presenting your work on spatial social networks @UFGeog today, Clio Andris, and thanks to @TheDrWho for organizing!

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

2 years

So cool to have our special issue on security and trade in African borderlands in @jborderstudies in hand. With contributions from @SteveRadil , Ian Irmischer, Martin Doevenspeck, @Deen1000 , @ulibeisel , Samuel Akakpo, Daniel K. Thompson, and Martin Evans

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

5 years

A nice interactive tool to visualize regional organizations in Africa, by @ECDPM

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

5 years

My take on Michel Foucher's article on the artificiality of African borders is out in @jborderstudies Foucher's paper and Anthony Asiwaju's response will follow...

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Olivier J Walther

@ojwalther

2 years

Thank you all for attending ABORNE 2022 in Paris!

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