Buy the article on CAIRN websiteAbstract :

The Europe-inspired notion of the State with a monopoly on tax-raising and violence is empirically difficult to find in large parts of Africa. Decision-makers frequently ignore how local groups perceive their security conditions and to whom they turn to for services in this area – including vigilantes and traditional authorities. A wide range of State and non-State actors can provide security, and sometimes their interplay create an “oligopoly of violence”. Efficiency and (local) legitimacy have to become important criteria in selecting partners for cooperation. It would be useful to have a complete overview of all violence actors, their motives and performances before far-reaching decisions are taken.Andreas Mehler, political scientist, is the Director of the Institute of African Affairs (Hambourg), in the German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA).