Scientific progress is rarely linear. Some ideas go out of fashion, only to reappear in a new guise later. Economic geographers know all about this, having seen their concepts of central places, regions, and cities suddenly revived by the New Economic Geography in the 1990s. I had a similar adventure in my work on conflict. […]
Growing interest in the study of networks is an opportunity to question the very nature of geographic space, the most fundamental yet least well-defined concept in our discipline. Networks in geography Networks are all the rage in geography. In recent years, a growing number of geographers have been seeking to better understand the relationships between […]
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In the past 25 years, French Professor Denis Retaillé was involved in the supervision of 39 graduate students. In 2006, I became one of them after completing a joint dissertation between the University of Lausanne in Switzerland and the University of Rouen in France. During my professional career, I have often wondered who else had […]
The creation of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) between Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger in 2023 is the most recent manifestation of a long process of political fragmentation in West Africa. These regional transformations are fueled by a more global rejection of Western-inspired integration models. By Olivier Walther, 2/18/2025 A laboratory for integration West Africa […]
Transport infrastructure is critical in armed conflicts. A dense infrastructure network allows states to provide services to the civilian population and defeat insurgents in a timely manner. Yet, transport infrastructure itself can also become a major target for rebels and violent extremists. This new OECD report examines how the competition for the control of transport […]
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Political violence is very irregularly distributed across time. Periods of relative calm are often followed by massive waves of attacks. Violent events are relatively rare, sparse and concentrated, making it difficult to evaluate whether violence is actually increasing or decreasing. A novel approach to political violence A new dashboard implemented by the OECD’s Mapping Territorial […]
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This new and very personal atlas explores the geography of Mali, through the 1:200,000 maps produced by the French National Geographic Institute. Each map serves as a starting point for a reflection on the nature of geographical space. Taken together, these commentaries show the variety of the Sahara and of the Sahel and the many […]
African armed conflicts express regularities in the way violence is spatially and temporally distributed. This is the main conclusion of a recent paper published in the Annals of the American Association of Geographers with Steve Radil and David Russell. In this paper, we introduce the concept of Spatial Conflict Life Cycle to examine where, when and […]
Call for Papers American Association of Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting, Detroit, March 24-28, 2025 Organizer Olivier J. Walther, University of Florida Session title Armed Conflicts and Transport Infrastructure Abstract Control of transport infrastructure has always been a critical issue in armed conflicts. States are naturally inclined to secure air, surface and maritime systems to control […]
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By Olivier Walther and Daniel Bach, 02/09/2024 The military juntas who broke away from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on January 28th have simultaneously reiterated plans to establish their Alliance des États du Sahel (AES). They are also indicating that they wish to remain members of the West African Economic and Monetary […]