ABSTRACT
The most consequential theory linking terrorism, security, and the state in Africa involves making a threat assessment around the concept of 'ungoverned space'. Western counter-terrorism policies to deny al-Qaeda a base in Africa have sparked a security-driven focus on state-building, with the aim of strengthening local capacity to monitor, disrupt, and prevent terrorist activities. The entire enterprise to strengthen the capacity of African states' police, military, and judiciary in order to build up local partners in the global war on terror represented the securitization of state-building in Africa. Somalia's 'ungoverned space' was anything but conducive for al-Qaeda's nascent East Africa cell, which by 1995 withdrew from Somalia to Kenya. In Africa, the effort to harness development and humanitarian aid to win over potentially hostile communities has been almost exclusively focused on Muslim populations. African diasporas are also a major source of leadership in African political, commercial, and civic life.
