The Influence of Globalization on Insurgency: Boko Haram and Al-Shabaab in the Age of Information Technology

Abstract

Without a doubt, Africa is presently faced with violence, war, and acts of terrorism arising from the activities of insurgents. This paper examines the ways globalization aids insurgent activities and increasing manipulation of globalization by insurgents. It also looks at the negative impacts of violence and the need to find solutions to the insurgents’ activities that have generated concerns for the contemporary global system. The issues raised are significant considering the need to find solutions to the violence in the continent. This paper argues that just as globalization has encouraged increased technology, lowered transportation cost, increased trade, and capital flow, and the overall economic growth of nation-states; it has also allowed insurgency and terrorism to spread easily; serving as a sanctuary to insurgent groups and aiding the activities of insurgents. Although globalization has been fingered as a factor in some cases of insurgency, it is not itself the main cause of insurgency; however, globalization has dramatically helped transform the strategies, tactics, and the overall activities of insurgents in the past two decades. This is because insurgents have directly and indirectly manipulated the faceless character of globalization to carry out their activities, especially Al-Shabaab in Kenya and Boko Haram in Nigeria. The paper states that just as insurgents have exploited globalization to perpetrate terror, globalization can also be used as a vital tool in counter-insurgency (COIN) and the War on Terror (WoT).