A comparative, whole-of-society approach to the Boko Haram insurgency that offers a more nuanced understanding of the risks, resilience and resolution of violent radicalization in Nigeria and beyond.

It is now more than a decade since the violent Islamic group Boko Haram launched its reign of terror across northern Nigeria, claiming more than 27,000 lives and displacing over 2 million people. While its territorial gains have largely been recaptured, the insurgency rages on, devastating communities across vast stretches of the north-east and disrupting governance, livelihoods and food security, as well as posing a security risk to Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
Less attention is paid to the pervasive popular rejection of violent extremism on the ground. How did a diverse and economically dynamic West African society unravel so violently, and for so long? Why does radicalizationhave so little influence on large Muslim populations in surrounding areas, such as the Yoruba in south-western Nigeria, or the poor ethnically similar Muslim majority in central Niger just north of the border? This book looks beyond the details of the insurgency to examine the wider social and political processes that explain why Boko Haram emerged when and where it did, and what forces exist within society to contain it. Drawing on the detailed fieldworkof specialist Nigerian and Nigerianist scholars from Nigeria, connecting the worst of Boko Haram violence to the wider realities of the present, the book offers new insights into the drivers of Islamic extremism in Nigeria - poverty, regional inequality, environmental stress, migration, youth unemployment, and state corruption and human rights abuses - with a view to charting more sustainable paths out of the conflict.

ABDUL RAUFU MUSTAPHA wasAssociate Professor in African Politics, University of Oxford prior to his death in 2017. His books includeTurning Points in African Democracy (2010)Sects and Social Disorder (2014) and, edited with David EhrhardtCreed & Grievance (2018). KATE MEAGHER is Associate Professor in Development Studies, London School of Economics. Her books includeIdentity Economics: Social Networks and the Informal Economy in Nigeria (2010), and, edited with Laura Mann and Maxim BoltGlobalisation, Economic Inclusion and African Workers: Making the Right Connections (2018).

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Foreword by Muhammad Sanusi II, CON, Sarkin Kano
Introduction: Faith, Society & Boko Haram - Kate Meagher and Abdul Raufu Mustapha
I: THE MACRO-SOCIAL CONTEXT
The Roles of theUlama in Radicalization and Counter-Radicalization - M. Sani Umar
Why in Borno?: The History, Geography & Sociology of Islamic Radicalization - Abubakar Kawu Monguno and Ibrahim Umara
"Boko Halal": Limits to Radicalization in Southern Niger Republic - Abdourahmane Idrissa
The Effects of Security Measures on Youth Radicalization - Julie G. Sanda
II: MICRO-SOCIAL RELATIONS
Pathways to Radicalization: Learning from Boko Haram Life Histories - M. Sani Umar and David Ehrhardt
Gender Norms and Women's Participation in Radicalization in Northern Nigeria - Zainab Usman and Sherine El Taraboulsi and Khadija Gambo Hawaja
An Inquiry into Possible Factors Contributing to Radicalization in Childhood and Youth in Northern Nigeria - Murray Last
Informalization & its Discontents: The Informal Economy & Islamic Radicalization in Northern Nigeria - Kate Meagher
Informalization & its Discontents: The Informal Economy & Islamic Radicalization in Northern Nigeria - Ibrahim Haruna Hassan
III. SEEKING A WAY FORWARD
Endgames: The Evolution of Boko Haram in Comparative Perspective - David Ehrhardt and M. Sani Umar
Conclusion:Toward a whole-of-society approach to counter-radicalization (by all contributors)