The IPS Section is now welcoming nominations for the 2027 IPS Distinguished Scholar Award! Nominations must be emailed to the chair Renata de Figueiredo Summa at [email protected] by June 2nd, 2026 #ISA2027

If you are an ISA member, do consider joining the new Global Africa Section.

1/ On a study trip to Germany. Mildly surprised by how openly senior figures in the highered world talk about AfD and the threat from the hard right. Quite a contrast with how American university Presidents in particular tiptoe around the subject.

Fascinating look at defensive infrastructures in the Sahel, drawing on satellite imagery & historical precedents. anl.geog.ufl.edu/fortified-la...

Les "partenaires sincères" du Mali savent négocier leur exfiltration en bons free riders quand les circonstances l'exigent. Pas dit que ça facilite la continuation harmonieuse dudit partenariat

Niger is influenced in part by Burkina Faso's VDP self-defence groups as it creates a legislative framework for its own 'Domol Leydi' volunteer forces.

On April 28th @biometricstate.bsky.social, @canmutlu.bsky.social and I will animate a session on the 'appification' of border security, at @balsillieschool.bsky.social. Join in person or online!

BREAKING: You checked the weather this morning. And you just told a surveillance company where you sleep. Meet #Webloc, used by ICE, cops & foreign govs to track 500m+ phones. No warrant required. Our @citizenlab.ca investigation + how to protect yourself 🧵/1 citizenlab.ca/research/ana...

If you're a Western news channel granted rare access to interview Ibrahim Traoré, don't send a journalist who doesn't speak French.

Periodic reminder that Canada's self-image as a spectator or benign power obscures our implication in many of the greatest crimes of our time.

Every university in Gaza was destroyed in the last few years, with very little outcry. No surprise to see the playbook extended further afield.

If you haven't yet read Liam Midzain-Gobin's new book 'Settler Colonial Worldmaking', here is a short form of the argument summarizing his talk at uOttawa CIPS last month

My generous take is that this proves why arguing about definitions, as fraught as it is, remains so important.

Panafricanist influencers Nathalie Yamb & Franklin Nyamsi named to new Institut des peuples noirs-Farafina (IPN-Farafina) in Burkina Faso. fr.apanews.net/science/nath...

The UK border security minister describes Nigeria as its "largest African visa market", as the two countries sign agreements on deportations, trade, and security.

The relative failure of regional approaches (G5, Accra Initiative) and the emergence of the AES means that int'l security cooperation in West Africa is ever more piecemeal and transactional.

The EU fears jihadist 'spillover' and is focusing on security partnerships with coastal West African states. Let's see what comes out of this concretely.

In the midst of a trade war, program & aid cuts, layoffs across the federal public service, a million immigration file backlog, overcrowded prisons, unclean drinking water in Indigenous communities, infrastructure that can't keep up with pop. growth, etc. www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/art...

Ferdaous Bouhlel and I have a new paper out. Enjoy // Jihadist taxation and order-making in Mali and Niger

The grassroots movement against Flock cameras and mass licence plate surveillance continues to grow.

Lord knows I hate what Twitter / X has become. But it's only on Twitter that I can still get real-time African reactions to the Cup of African Nations stripping Senegal of the CAF championship and giving it to Morocco. I wish Bluesky were more global. It's just... not.

Join us tomorrow!

Come to this online event tomorrow and hear all about the wonderful Vicki Squire!!

Next week, the @isaipssection.bsky.social will be honouring Vicki Squire, recipient of the 2026 IPS Distinguished Scholar award. See you there!

Here are snapshots of the first few posts from my new IG page instagram.com/pmfrowd. The latest post is on the AES and liberatory politics in the Sahel. Follow along for more!

#BurkinaFaso: Junta Pulls the Plug on Political Life No more political parties. Junta's "putting democratic institutions on trial using the pretext of terrorism...but counterterrorism efforts should not undermine civil liberties” A. Newton Barry told @hrw.org www.hrw.org/news/2026/02...

A Minnesota woman observing ICE agents in her car was cornered on one-way streets. An agent approached, called her by name—citing facial recognition. Days later, her Global Entry and TSA privileges were revoked, with no explanation.

Parliament needs hearings to beat the living shit out of the CPP board. They invested in Grok, which makes nonconsensual nude deepfakes of real women and child porn.

As Morocco, Mauritania and Senegal clamp down on unauthorized migration, boats are increasingly leaving from much further south, in Guinea, to reach the Canary Islands.

Authoritarianism, there's an app for that

This is murder. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

A scandalous event that should remind us to question any assumption that Canadian security agencies operate much differently than their US counterparts.

It’s hard to even know where to begin with this. Professor Falk is in his 90s and one of the world’s most prominent international legal scholars. It beggars belief that he could even remotely be considered a threat to Canada.

The initiative will function in part through "bespoke capacity-building workshops".

'Nous appelons le Collège de France à revenir sur sa décision et à garantir la tenue de ce colloque dans le respect de la liberté intellectuelle. Nous appelons le ministère à honorer son devoir de protection de la recherche, non à en devenir le censeur' 🤔 Römer et Baptiste doivent surtout se barrer

"Resident Prince Ajabu got one. He says it cost him $45 and Ugandan authorities accepted it when he travelled to Kampala, showing tacit acceptance of DRC balkanisation in the region."

One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc

"The calculus for Abu Dhabi appears pragmatic: access to cheap bullion, future stakes in land and logistics, a foothold along the Red Sea." www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/gold-gulf-an...