Exploring lapses in West Africa's security architecture and their implications for regional security

The last two decades in West Africa have witnessed the emergence and persistence of diverse forms of insecurity - in particular, the recession of democracy and the rise of terrorism and transnational organised crime. This article explores the effectiveness of the region's security architecture with a focus on the peace and security framework of the Economic Community of West African States, the Multinational Joint Task Force and the G5 Sahel, a framework formulated in response to the above threats. The article identifies and examines specific institutional lapses, including gaps in regime security, insufficient efforts to build state relations and ineffective implementation of the security policies that do exist. This article argues that these institutional lapses drive the persistence of identified insecurity in the region.