Le Pays Des Hommes Intègres

Burkina Faso is a West African nation that has been plagued with a security crisis for the last decade. The Sahel crisis is an extremely relevant issue as terrorist groups look to expand their influence in more countries in the region. The purpose of this research paper is to analyze the causes of terrorism in the country, from a uniquely Burkinabé perspective. In most of the scholarship, the focus has mostly been placed on outside perspectives, with little analysis given to Burkinabé sources. The study focuses on mainstream Burkinabé news outlets in order to pull main themes and patterns. Through this, I was able to categorize the themes by utilizing Martha Crenshaw's causes of terrorism framework. The thesis finds that forces such as the institutional failure, geopolitical expansion, and spillover effect were important in the spread of insecurity in Burkina Faso. The results are valuable insight for the creation of policy to address systemic issues in the country that continue to propel insecurity in the nation.