Citizen participation in public security policies in Africa: a comparative analysis of the examples of Burkina Faso and Niger

Abstract

The article analyses citizen participation in public security policies in Niger and Burkina Faso. It shows that citizen involvement in security governance has been shaped by the dynamics of political regimes and the relations of the latter with the international sphere. As an instrument of political regulation, citizen participation thus appears as a privileged site for the observation of power struggles and the establishment of public action in states receiving aid. The analysis proves very fruitful from the point of view of the logics of extraversion that characterizes public action in Africa.