‘Negative Sovereignty’ Pays Off in West Africa: The EU is the Weaker Part Vis-A-Vis the Sahel

With migration and terrorism at the top of the EU agenda, the relationship between the Sahel, West Africa and the European Union has turned upside-down since the turn of the century, suggesting ‘reverse dependency’ between the two regions implying. West Africa is perceived as a highly volatile region by ‘Europe’ and by the United States due to the non-existent border controls of its vast and sparsely inhabited area. This paper argues that this limited sovereignty sometimes called ‘negative sovereignty’ is to the advantage of the incumbent power holding elites and to the disadvantage of the European Union. It manifests itself in increasing transfers of development, military and administrative assistance from the EU to West Africa and in the total dependence of the EU on the cooperation of the authorities in the individual Sahel countries. This leads to EU acceptance of uneven implementation of agreed upon deals and a striking lowering of the EU’s criticism of the African regimes’ lack of respect for human rights and democratic governance.