FRAGILE STATE INDICATORS AND TERRORISM IN LIGHT OF US STATE CAPACITY-BUILDING EFFORTS IN THE G-5 SAHEL STATES (2001-2017)

Abstract

By the turn of the century, the United States entered its unipolar moment with unprecedented military might and economic strength. However, the security strategy of the United States was deeply shaken by the September 11 attacks as the threat of transnational terrorism reached the geographically gifted superpower. Rogue states that sponsor terror and fragile states that offer a breeding ground for radical groups reigned on top of the threats that the United States should address. This paper studies the relationship between state fragility and terrorism in the G-5 Sahel countries by analyzing the correlation between the state fragility index, global governance indicators, and political stability index with the global terrorism index. Although the link between state fragility and terrorism is intuitively plausible within policy circles, this study does not conclusively confirm this correlation. Besides, US capacity building of Sahel fragile states failed to achieve its goals because of its focus on the security aspect to the detriment of other state fragility dimensions.

Keywords: Capacity building; Fragile states; Sahel; terrorism; US security strategy.