While the media are known as information and entertainment source, some scholars (e.g. Galtung, 2002; Lynch, 2014) have also proposed peace advocacy as one of the concerns of journalism. This study provides an insightful account of a complex conflict- the Boko Haram conflict, in northern Nigeria. Boko Haram is an Islamic fundamentalist group that operates out of north-eastern Nigeria. With the Boko Haram conflict as the focus of analysis, this study examines conflict reporting strategies against the backdrop of the peace and war journalism model proposed by a Norwegian scholar, Johan Galtung. Galtung looked at the dichotomy in conflict coverage and views war and peace journalism as two varying frames in the coverage of conflicts. The study also examines national versus international media practices in the coverage of an intra-national conflict. Through content analysis this study concentrates on the coverage of the Boko Haram crisis in Nigeria over a 16- month period by two Nigerian national dailies, Vanguard and Punch, and two United States’ dailies, New York Times and Washington Post, from February 1st 2014 to May 29th 2015. It considers the extent to which the newspapers covered the crisis based on war and peace frames as well as the dynamic nature of the coverage. Furthermore, this study also investigates whether the newspapers showed exclusivity in coverage towards war journalism or towards peace journalism or a combination of both. Within the period considered for this study, Boko Haram kidnapped about 300 girls from the Chibok High School, of whose fate uncertainty still prevailed as at the time of writing this dissertation. The study found that the Boko Haram crisis was represented in the newspapers examined as a thematic issue. However, the newspapers did not provide sufficient contextual and background information about the crisis. The media did not play active roles towards conflict management, as advocated by Galtung, and were involved in partisan reporting of incidents in the crisis. This study therefore makes a significant contribution to the debate about objectivity in news reporting and the role of the media for societal good.

The Internet is an instrument that has revolutionized the world and the society since its introduction. Today, over 4 billion people around the world have access to it. While this technology comes with several positive innovations, it can also be used negatively by terrorist organizations to more efficiently spread propaganda messages. More so, the development of social media has fostered new methods of recruitment that allows to reach a broader audience anonymously and outside of the geographical area of operation of a terrorist organization. The purpose of this research is to analyze the relationship between social media development and changes in terrorist recruitment strategies, discuss the main social media used for terrorist recruitment, and identify major targeted demographics. Further, the research seeks to analyze through case study examination whether the use of social media by terrorist organizations result in more effective recruitment. This is accomplished by comparing recruiting success of ISIS, which heavily relies on social media, with Boko Haram, which does not. After comparing data available on recruits based on their geographical location, gender and age, and economic status, this study finds that there is not a significant diversity between individuals recruited through social media or those recruited through a different method. This study finds that a significant difference only exists when recruiting individuals with different economic opportunities. While fighters from ISIS are recruited from any class of the society, including those with higher income and are more educated, Boko Haram tends to be more successful among individuals who experience economic hurdles.

L'un des défis sécuritaires majeurs auxquels le Nigéria a dû faire face au cours de la dernière décennie a été l'insurrection de Boko Haram dans le nord du pays. L'attention portée par de nombreux chercheurs aux récits relatifs à l'insurrection dans le nord-est, en particulier le Borno, doit son impulsion intellectuelle au climat de violence dont cette zone a été le théâtre. Cette focalisation excessive, aussi valide soit-elle, relègue quelque peu au second rang les recherches pouvant porter sur d'autres zones septentrionales, où les facteurs de risques de l'insurrection sont similaires à ceux du nord-est. Dans le cas particulier de l'État de Sokoto au nord-ouest, la capacité à endiguer la montée des violences perpétrées par Boko Haram s'organise autour du récit d'une synergie sociétale entre différentes communautés. Bien qu'existant en milieu contemporain, cette synergie tire son inspiration de l'héritage historique unique du Sokoto et de son djihad au XIXe siècle, autour duquel certaines communautés se sont tissées. L'étude entière a essayé de permettre une meilleure compréhension des liens entre les récits djihadistes, l'insurrection, les acteurs sociaux locaux, la puissance de l'histoire et l'expérience de la résilience et de la résistance contre l'une des plus célèbres insurrections africaines des dernières décennies. / Over the last decade, a predominant feature of counter-insurgency scholarship in Africa has been the articulation of ideas based on troubling accounts in the north-east zone of Nigeria. The multiple enquiries by scholars owe their intellectual momentum to the sheer level of violence instigated by a group known as "Boko Haram". Few studies focus on the (counter-) insurgency narratives linked to states in other northern Nigerian zones where the Boko Haram crisis reached and where there are indeed risk factors for insurgency. Using the case of Sokoto, a state in Nigeria's north-west zone, this study addresses the principal question of what intervening variables have deterred a fuller expression of the Boko Haram crisis in Sokoto's societal context. In the particular case of Sokoto, the capacity to deter the escalation of Boko Haram's violence is framed around the narrative of a synergy among societal structures, which although located in the contemporary milieu, draw inspiration from Sokoto's unique historical legacy of the 19th century jihad. This study opens up understanding to the linkages between jihad narratives, insurgency, local societal actors, the potency of history and the experience of resistance against one of the world's most notorious insurgencies in recent decades.

Cette thèse cherche à mieux comprendre le rôle de la dimension visuelle dans les conflits contemporains en produisant des données empiriques sur les images, leur production, leur circulation et leurs réceptions dans deux cas d’études. Ces deux cas sont les confit urbain autour du trafic de drogue et du Primeiro Comando da Capital à Sao Paulo, et celui de l’insurrection de Boko Haram au Nigéria, Tchad et Cameroun. Cette approche montre que les conflits sont l’objet de controverses sur leurs définitions. Les acteurs de ces conflits tentent tous d’imposer des cadrages (framing) et interprétations de la situation en se servant des images. Quand les acteurs ne produisent pas d’images, ils sont forcés de proposer des interprétations de ces images. Pour montrer le rôle des images dans les controverses des deux conflits étudiés, deux concepts ont été élaborés. Le premier est celui de régime d’images qui correspond à des modes de fonctionnement de ces images permettant d'expliquer leur pouvoir sur les controverses. Ce concept est appliqué aux deux cas pour montrer les dynamiques visuelles propres à chaque conflit. Dans le cas de Boko Haram, nous identifions deux régimes, dont l’un a internationalisé le conflit. A Sao Paulo, les régimes d’images identifiés construisent les positions au sein de la controverse sur la violence. La thèse fait aussi l’hypothèse d’un capital esthétique des groupes armés qui pourrait être converti en capital militaire. Nous validons cette hypothèse en montrant le rôle de ce capital pour Boko Haram et le PCC. Les deux groupes s’efforcent de reprendre les codes visuels de l’Etat islamique pour manifester leur antagonisme politique. / This thesis aims at understanding the visual dimension of contemporary armed conflicts. To do so it presents empirical datas on the pictures, their production, circulation and reception during two armed conflicts. The first case is the urban conflict around drug trafficking and the Primeiro Comando da Capital in Sao Paulo. The second one is the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon. This approach shows that contemporary conflicts are entangled in controversies about their meaning and definition. The actors of theses conflicts try to impose their own framing and their interpretation of the conflict using pictures. When the actors do not produce images, they are forced to advance some interpretations of the pictures. To identify the role of images in controversies relating to armed conflicts the thesis develops two concepts. The first one is the « regime d’images ». It underlines the modes of functionment of these images and makes it possible to explain their power over the controversies. This concept is used to show the different dynamics in the two cases. Regarding the Boko Haram insurgency, one of the « regime d’image » contributed to the internationalization of the conflict. In Sao Paulo the regimes of images reinforce the different positions of the actors in the controversy. The thesis also develops the idea of aesthetic capital of armed groups. This aesthetic capital can be transformed into military capital. We validate this hypothesis showing how this capital worked for the PCC and Boko Haram. The two groups are forced to adopt the visual codes and the aesthetic of the Islamic State to manifest their political antagonism.

In this essay, two of the most lethal terrorist organizations in the world, al-Qaeda and Boko Haram are being examined and compared based on psychological, political, economical and religious theories. The essay was written with the aim to find out about cause, objectives as well as course of action within al-Qaeda and Boko Haram. One has found out that the cause of al-Qaeda is mainly based on religious and political indicators, while Boko Haram is primary caused by economical and political factors. The objectives for both of the cases are religious, but for Boko Haram, political as well. Both of the organizations use psychological factors as a way to go through with their course of action, but in the case of Boko Haram, the economical indicators are very convincing as well.

Nigeria has seen an upsurge in violent conflicts leading to insurgency and terrorism since it returned to civilian government in 1999, following sixteen years of military rule. The Niger Delta and Boko Haram insurgencies stand out among conflict groups in Nigeria as they have produced global consequences, hence provoking domestic and international counter-insurgency efforts. Military responses remain primary, but development responses are being increasingly employed. Addressing issues of poverty, exclusion, injustice and underdevelopment is considered to be more fundamental to solving contemporary conflicts. In this sense, development and security are linked, and human, rather than state security is seen to be prioritised. However, the nexus between development and security is fraught with contradictions and the notion of human security is vague. Development intervention appears to be securitized such that it becomes a tool for protecting the strategic interests of external interveners and a tool of control by domestic interveners. Therefore, this thesis explores the prospect of a human rights approach to development as a means of mediating the tension between development and security. It attempts to intellectually consider the triad among the three concepts in relation to the Niger Delta and Boko Haram conflicts. The study explores how the internal and external development interventions towards the Niger Delta and Boko Haram conflicts have been developed and the issues that have arisen concerning their effectiveness. The exploratory study uses a triangulation method that includes interviews, focus group, documentary analysis and observation. The thesis finds evidence of a paradigmatic shift towards a rights based approach to development in the internal and external interventions, but one that still yields to securitization and corruption and adversely affects sustainable development. Nonetheless, responses to the Niger Delta and Boko Haram conflicts produce ramifications that justify general as well as specifically targeted responses to individual conflicts. More so, the study shows that the relationship between Nigeria and its external development partners seem to be less vertical.

Magister Legum - LLM / As the world evolves new perils emerge which pose a significant threat to human and child rights, it is imperative that the protection of these rights is prioritised. Human rights can be defined as the rights that every human being is entitled to. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was one of the first international legal instruments which set forth the basic human rights of citizens which are applicable irrespective of race, culture, sex or economic standing highlighting the universal applicability of human rights. Human rights violations have been prevalent on the African continent due to regimes such as apartheid and the innumerable armed conflicts which have played out in states such as Sierra Leone, Angola, South Sudan and Uganda. Over the past century a variety of insurgent groups have emerged, and their actions has resulted in catastrophic human rights violations across continent. Insurgent groups such as the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda, Al-Shabab in Somalia, M 23 in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Tajoura Battalion in Libya are some of the armed factions at the forefront of current conflicts.

Studies have examined the causes and impacts of terrorism in Nigeria; however, no known research has documented the psychological impacts of witnessing ongoing Boko Haram terrorist violence based on the lived experiences of Nigerian children. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to examine the psychological consequences of the Boko Haram insurgency based on the lived experience of Nigerian children exposed to terrorism in Nigeria. The study's theoretical framework combined Piaget's theory of cognitive development and punctuated equilibrium theory. The central research question examined the adverse psychological effects of the Boko Haram insurgency for Nigerian children residing in Nigeria. Data for this study were collected through interviews from a purposeful sample of 8 participants who were exposed to the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria and a review of literature that primarily included peer-reviewed articles and studies relevant to the psychological theories. Colaizzi's method of phenomenological analysis was employed for data analysis. Results showed that all the participants reported negative symptoms of mental health disorders, which did not lead to permanent mental health illnesses. Among the participants, the primary factors that moderated the symptoms, preventing progression to permanent mental health illnesses, were fasting and religious support. Implications for positive social change include giving voice to voiceless Nigerian children and providing the Nigerian populace, multilateral and bilateral organizations, and the Nigerian government with information necessary to understand the effects of terrorism on children and promote resilience in children who have experienced terrorism.

With the evolving problems of terrorism in Nigeria and the formation of numerous new terrorist groups, insurgency in Nigeria has escalated, making it one of the most terrorized countries in sub-Saharan Africa. This study looked critically at the effects of the strategies applied in the attempt to fight terrorism and how these strategies have affected insurgency in Nigeria. The background of the study gives an insight on the evolution of terrorist groups in Nigeria, their mode of operation, effects on citizens and the Nigerian economy, as well as the operations of counterterrorist agencies. The qualitative research method was used for this study. Critical theory and resource dependence theory were applied, and data were obtained through face-to-face and telephone interviews with 7 stakeholders. Detailed recommendations are made to aid counterterrorist agencies in developing and applying additional and effective workable strategies in their fight against terrorism. Policies in Nigeria were recommended that may discourage terrorism initiations and center the focus of youth towards nation-building. Social problems were identified connecting young people as the primary causes of terrorism in Nigeria. Solid recommendations in this direction have been provided to ensure youths across the country who form a vulnerable population and are the targets of terrorist sect recruitment are protected and provided with effective tools to prevent their conscription, while engaging them positively in becoming knowledgeable and self-reliant citizens.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2012.