ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the spatial and temporal diffusion of political violence in North and West Africa since 1997. Focusing on the distance and time between attacks and taking into consideration the transaction costs that state boundaries impose, the contribution analyzes what induces a group leader to attack at a location other than the one that would seem to yield the greatest overt payoff. The result is a “map” of North and West Africa that reflects the impact of distance, borders and time upon a group’s actions, a necessary step toward principles planning, prepositioning and response to transnational threats.
