Abstract

A systematic and comprehensive study of Sahel, Sahara and Savannah (“Sahvara”) responses to uneven development in West Africa since the colonial period has not been undertaken. This paper attempts to begin to close this gap. Drawing largely on the secondary literature, it outlines the north-south tensions that existed in several West African territories under colonial rule, which persisted during the period of decolonization. During the postcolonial period, economically lagging northern regions increasingly asserted centralised power in different countries through military coups and/or electoral victories, although this was not an option for demographically and politically weak lagging regions such as northern Mali and northern Ghana. The high level of military coups in West Africa, Mano River Region crisis and expansion of terrorism in the Sahara, Sahel, Lake Chad Basin and, potentially, northern regions of Gulf of Guinea countries, should be interpreted in light of this long-term tension associated with uneven development in West Africa.

Keywords: Spatial inequality, West Africa, Sahelian thought, Developmentalism, Sahara, Sudanic thought