Leonardo A. Villalón is professor of African politics at the University of Florida.Rahmane Idrissa is senior researcher in the African Studies Centre at the University of Leiden.

Democratic Struggle, Institutional Reform, and State Resilience in the African Sahel makes an important contribution to our understanding of democratization struggles and state consolidation in West Africa and fills a great gap in the study of Sahelian countries.The contributing authors provide a rich account of democratization processes and their impact on the state, put in historical perspective.This book will be of interest to scholars interested in institutions and democratization politics broadly for its conceptual framework and comparative analysis, as well as scholars and practitioners wishing to understand better the individual countries making up the West African Sahel. Importantly, it will also provide a crucial historical and theoretical perspective to analysts and policymakers working on the Sahel and its current “crisis,” who would benefit from this valuable collective endeavor.

• 1: The Politics of Democratization and State Building in the SahelLeonardo A. Villalón2: Controlled Democratization, Institutional Reforms, and Political (In)Stability in MauritaniaZekeria Ould Ahmed Salem3: Constitutional Revisions, Democracy, and the State in SenegalIsmaïla Madior Fall4: Stress-testing Democratic Reforms in Mali: The Political Elite and the Breakdown of the StateMoumouni Soumano5: Democratic Struggle and State Building in Burkina Faso: Between Manipulation and Resilience of InstitutionsAugustin Loada6: The Nigerien Paradox: Institutional Consolidation through Political InstabilityMahaman Tidjani Alou7: Reforming for Stability or Reforming the Instability? Legacies of War, Democratic Struggle, and Institutional Change in Chad. Lucien Toulou8: The Dialectics of Democratization and Stability in the SahelRahmane Idrissa

Leonardo A. Villalón is professor of African politics at the University of Florida.Rahmane Idrissa is senior researcher in the African Studies Centre at the University of Leiden.

Democratic Struggle, Institutional Reform, and State Resilience in the African Sahel makes an important contribution to our understanding of democratization struggles and state consolidation in West Africa and fills a great gap in the study of Sahelian countries.The contributing authors provide a rich account of democratization processes and their impact on the state, put in historical perspective.This book will be of interest to scholars interested in institutions and democratization politics broadly for its conceptual framework and comparative analysis, as well as scholars and practitioners wishing to understand better the individual countries making up the West African Sahel. Importantly, it will also provide a crucial historical and theoretical perspective to analysts and policymakers working on the Sahel and its current “crisis,” who would benefit from this valuable collective endeavor.

• 1: The Politics of Democratization and State Building in the SahelLeonardo A. Villalón2: Controlled Democratization, Institutional Reforms, and Political (In)Stability in MauritaniaZekeria Ould Ahmed Salem3: Constitutional Revisions, Democracy, and the State in SenegalIsmaïla Madior Fall4: Stress-testing Democratic Reforms in Mali: The Political Elite and the Breakdown of the StateMoumouni Soumano5: Democratic Struggle and State Building in Burkina Faso: Between Manipulation and Resilience of InstitutionsAugustin Loada6: The Nigerien Paradox: Institutional Consolidation through Political InstabilityMahaman Tidjani Alou7: Reforming for Stability or Reforming the Instability? Legacies of War, Democratic Struggle, and Institutional Change in Chad. Lucien Toulou8: The Dialectics of Democratization and Stability in the SahelRahmane Idrissa

Leonardo A. Villalón is professor of African politics at the University of Florida.Rahmane Idrissa is senior researcher in the African Studies Centre at the University of Leiden.

Democratic Struggle, Institutional Reform, and State Resilience in the African Sahel makes an important contribution to our understanding of democratization struggles and state consolidation in West Africa and fills a great gap in the study of Sahelian countries.The contributing authors provide a rich account of democratization processes and their impact on the state, put in historical perspective.This book will be of interest to scholars interested in institutions and democratization politics broadly for its conceptual framework and comparative analysis, as well as scholars and practitioners wishing to understand better the individual countries making up the West African Sahel. Importantly, it will also provide a crucial historical and theoretical perspective to analysts and policymakers working on the Sahel and its current “crisis,” who would benefit from this valuable collective endeavor.

• 1: The Politics of Democratization and State Building in the SahelLeonardo A. Villalón2: Controlled Democratization, Institutional Reforms, and Political (In)Stability in MauritaniaZekeria Ould Ahmed Salem3: Constitutional Revisions, Democracy, and the State in SenegalIsmaïla Madior Fall4: Stress-testing Democratic Reforms in Mali: The Political Elite and the Breakdown of the StateMoumouni Soumano5: Democratic Struggle and State Building in Burkina Faso: Between Manipulation and Resilience of InstitutionsAugustin Loada6: The Nigerien Paradox: Institutional Consolidation through Political InstabilityMahaman Tidjani Alou7: Reforming for Stability or Reforming the Instability? Legacies of War, Democratic Struggle, and Institutional Change in Chad. Lucien Toulou8: The Dialectics of Democratization and Stability in the SahelRahmane Idrissa