Olivier Walther

In the last 15 years, my research has focused on the development of cross-border trade and the emergence of transnational political violence in West Africa. I have conducted fieldwork in Niger, Nigeria, Benin, Mali, Mauritania, and Ghana. My research has pioneered the introduction of social network analysis to the study of borderlands in West Africa. I have served as a lead investigator or collaborator on externally funded research projects from the National Science Foundation, NASA, the United Nations, the OECD, the European Commission, the European Spatial Planning Observatory, and the national research funds of Denmark and Luxembourg. Currently, I am coordinating the West Africa research program of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD/SWAC), with a core objective to better understand political insecurity in the region. I am an Associate Editor of Political Geography and a “chief” of the African Borderlands Research Network (ABORNE).