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Lamin Keita

Program Area(s):  Comparative Politics; International Relations

Regional Specialization(s):  Africa; Middle East

Dissertation Title:

The Politics of Community Resilience to Armed Jihadism in West Africa

Dissertation Committee:  Will Reno (Chair), Alvin Tillery Jr. Alexander Thurston, Jaimie Bleck, Marina E. Henke

Interest(s): Comparative Politics of Violent Conflict in Africa, Terrorism, Race & Ethnicity, International Security, Democratization, Elections, Social Movements & Protest, Role of Media & Conflict, Human Rights & Law, International Organization and International Law, International Political Economy, Religion and Global Politics. Development, political institutions, and regional and cross-regional studies.

Conference Presentations:

  • Invited Participant in the edited book volume “Whose Peace? Understanding Transitional Government in Africa with Routledge” Workshop hosted at Ghana, Accra on March 4 – 7, 2024. The workshop was organized by the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs.
  • “The Politics of Community Resilience to Armed Jihadism in West Africa,” Triangle Institute for Security Studies (TISS) for New Faces Conference in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Invited Speaker, September 2023.
  • Sciences PO Centre De Research International Conference in Paris (in France), Topic "Not the praetorian alternatives we witnessed before." Analyses of the relations between the “security forces” and the society and elites beyond coups.
  • Invited Speaker and Paper Presented: "Politics of Community Radicalization in West Africa." May 2023. 
  • Mali, Burkina Faso and the Role of the Jihadists Conflict in the Region, American Prestige, Presentation on the “State of the Sahel” w/Lamin Keita and Alex Thurston, January 18, 2023.
  • “Community Response to Radicalization in West Africa,” U.S. Embassy Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, July 2022.
  • “Politics of Community Resilience to Armed Jihadism in West Africa,” SSRC-IDRF 2022 Workshop, virtual gathering of the 2020-2021 Fellows, Final Research presentation of the findings from the fieldwork: Dissertation filed research topic presented, May 13, 2022.
  • “The Diaspora and the Political Change in Africa,” Northwestern University, Invited Speaker, Qatar, January 2021
  • “Politics of Insecurity and Civil Society Participation in Malian Politics,” 2021 American Political Science Association (APSA) annual conference, joint paper presented, September 30th, 2021.
  • “Authoritarian Breakdown in The Gambia,” Annual International AFRISEM Conference, Program of African Studies, Northwestern University, May 2019.
  • “The Role of Ethnic Inequality in Explaining Al-Qaeda’s Differential Success in Mali,” 25th Annual National Ronald E. McNair Research Conference and Graduate Fair, Lake Lawn Resort Delevan, Wisconsin, May 2017.
  • “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,” Roland E. McNair Annual Conference, Washington DC / University of Maryland-Baltimore, September 23, 2016 – September 25, 2016. 
  • “First Generation of College Students and the Legacy of Roland E. McNair Symposium,” 24th Annual Conference, University of Berkeley, California, August 2016. 
  • “AL Qaeda’s differential Success in the Sahel,” Summer Research Opportunity Program (SROP), Ohio State University, Columbus 2016. 
  • “A New Politics of Human Rights,” Law School, Annual Research Conference, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2015. 
  • “Post-Conflict, Culture and Integration of Society,” Rovinj, Croatia, University of Wisconsin Madison Study Abroad, July 2014. 
  • “Immigration in the African American Awareness: Representation, Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration,” University of Wisconsin-Madison, November 2014.

Publications:
Articles

  • “Youth and Protest: how “#Gambia” Ended Decades of Autocratic Rule,” Canadian Journal of African Studies (CJAS), Published with DOI: 10.1080/00083968.2023.2254859. Publication date: December 15, 2023. Access via this (under Elections, Protests, and Social Movements): https://think.taylorandfrancis.com/african-studies/
  • Forthcoming publication with the Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, a contributing chapter “Managing Mali’s Transitional Agreement Through the Politics of Insecurity” in the book Whose Peace? Understanding Transitional Government in Africa.
  • Currently under review with the special issue of Terrorism & Political Violence is “Community Response to Radicalization in West Africa.”
  • Article, “Anti-French and Pro-Russian Sentiment in Francophone Africa, Mali & Burkina Faso,” Conflict Journal Studies, under review January 2024.

Books

  • Book chapter from my dissertation on “Networks of State Surveillance and Information-gathering Capabilities in Weak States,” under review, Oxford University Press, June 2023
  • Authoritarian & Democratic Transitional Breakdown in The Gambia (1994-2021), Xlibris, submitted in February 2024 (Under Review).

Papers & Reports-in Progress

  • “The Role of the UN (UNISMA) in the Fight Against Terrorism in the West African Sahel” is under review with Africa Today Journal.
  • Dilemma of Insecurity and Civil Society Participation in Malian Politics (Joint publication), Afrosaharo Community Research Network (afrosaharo.org), 2021.
  • The proliferation of Lethal Arms and Ammunition in Mali, Small Arms Survey, December 1st to December 30th, 2019.
  • “Self-Defence Groups (militias) and the State Relationship in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger”
  • “The Role of Ethnic Inequality in Explaining Al-Qaeda’s Differential Success in Mali, Sub-Saharan Africa”
  • Why is DRC poor in human development despite its Abundant natural resources? Foreign Policy Paper (Academic term Paper), Northwestern University, February 2019.

Awards:

  • The Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad (DDRA) October 27, 2020.
  • SSRC-International Dissertation Research Fellowship (IDRF) April 2020.
  • Graduate Research Fund, Political Science Department, Northwestern University, 2019.
  • Buffett Institute for Global Studies (War & Society Working Group), Award, Northwestern University, Research Sponsor in Mali, 2018.
  • Minar Memorial Summer Award, Political Science Department, Northwestern University, 2018.
  • Hans E. Panofsky Pre-dissertation Research Awards 2017 and 2018.
  • Selected Fellow, Panofsky Award, Program of African Studies, Northwestern University, Research Sponsor in The Gambia ($5000), 2017 and 2018.
  • Selected Fellow, The Great People-Int’l Studies Scholarship at the University of Wisconsin Division of International Studies, Research study of Culture & Conflict in Rovinj, Croatia ($10,000), May – July 2014.
  • Selected Scholar, Roland E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program, a U.S. Department of Education funded program, University of Wisconsin-Madison ($10 000), May – July 2015