Jemima Ackah-Arthur

Areas of interest

• Sub-Saharan Africa
• Counterinsurgency and counterterrorism
• State-society relations

Biography

Dr. Ackah-Arthur's research focuses on counterinsurgency in weak state contexts. She examines how states that seemingly exhibit weak capacity in controlling armed violence manage insurgencies within their borders. She particularly explores militarized responses toward insurgent activities in regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa. Through the lens of social relationships, she examines how different actors, mainly populations, state actors, insurgents and local non-state security groups share information and resources to address violence resulting from the operations of armed groups such as Boko Haram. Dr. Ackah-Arthur's work is mainly ethnographic and involves interviews with stakeholders and local communities in violence-affected areas in countries such as Nigeria. She has made contributions to the Oxford Handbook of Transitional Justice.

Her current project investigates how weak states boost their competences in curbing armed violence through collaborations between state governors and local vigilante groups. She further explores how the embeddedness of insurgents within a local community limits the ability of state actors such as the military to respond to terror incidents.