Entrepreneurship, Youth Employment, and Violent Extremism in West Africa

[caption id="attachment_11286" align="aligncenter" width="600"] A meet-up of app developers in Nairobi. Engaging young people in entrepreneurial fields like technology is crucial to creating jobs and preventing extremism. Photo by Juliana Rotich, via Flickr. Creative Commons.[/caption]

During the summer of 2014, after two weeks of intense research on gender, entrepreneurship, and innovation with two research assistants from Georgetown University, we settled for an afternoon break and stopped by a café in one of the most affluent streets of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. We enjoyed everything that would not be recommended while on diet. On January 15th 2016, Burkina Faso experienced its first-ever Islamist attack, carried out by three young men in their twenties. The terrorist attack happened in the very same place we sat a year and a half before: the Café Cappuccino. The attack on the café and the Splendid Hotel across the street resulted in the death of 30 people. A month later, a similar terrorist attack in Grand Bassam, Côte d'Ivoire claimed 18 lives. Why would a young man in his twenties turn to violence and extremism? Unemployment and poverty are frequently cited as drivers of radicalization, but is that true?

To answer these questions, I build on three authoritative pieces of research: a report by the Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation (CGCC), "Countering Violent Extremism and Promoting Community Engagement in West Africa and the Sahel," a 2015 Mercy Corps report "Youth & Consequences: Unemployment, Injustices and Violence," and a reflection by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Africa's regional programs coordinator on what leads youth to extremism.

The research suggests that unemployment is a potential contributor to extreme violence. Unemployment is not only an economic fact, but also a social and psychological reality: it is the disaggregation of social ties and experience of alienation and hopelessness. The unemployed feel excluded and like victims of an unfair social and economic system. In that sense, unemployment is a push factor towards violent extremism.[1]

These trends are visible in Côte d'Ivoire today. As of 2015, more than 79 percent of the Ivorian population is under 35 years of age, and 75 percent of the unemployed are between 14 and 35. In Côte d'Ivoire, youth with tertiary education are two to three times more likely to be unemployed than other youth. Youth violence and radicalization, even on university campuses, is so prevalent that the United Nations committed to supporting the Ivoirian government in tackling youth violence. A few months earlier, several ministers of security from West African countries met in Côte d'Ivoire to coordinate strategies to tackle insecurity, including youth radicalization.

The report of the 2013 CGCC workshop, which included representatives of 27 countries, notes that violent extremism in West Africa and the Sahel is fueled by a combination of complex circumstances, including societal conflicts; intercommunal tensions; an underdeveloped sense of citizenship, national loyalty, and identity; organized crime; illiteracy; and other challenges related to weak governance, inadequate justice systems, and insufficient service delivery. In their recommendations for action, they address the push factors of violent extremism and the rehabilitation of former fighters, suggesting that the lessons from each type of program indicate that vocational training and support, in particular, education and aftercare support (e.g., counseling, assistance with employment, and support to family members or medical assistance) is an integral part of helping to ensure the fighters' reentry into society.

A 2015 report by Mercy Corps on political violence in post-conflict countries (Afghanistan, Colombia, and Somalia) suggests that youth are violent not because they are unemployed, but because they are angry (Mercy Corps, page 11). However, in similar research in Kenya, Mercy Corps did find a relationship that positively linked employment to lower likelihood of participation in political violence. It adds also that, for the case of Kenya, politicians used financial incentives, which were presumably more effective for poor and unemployed youth. These mixed results point to the interplay between push and pull factors to violent extremism. Mercy Corps concludes "empowering local reformers and youth to build more just and inclusive societies remains, we believe, the best bet for a more peaceful future" (Mercy Corps, page 3). Both the CGCC and Mercy corps reports broadly agree that young people take up arms not only because they are poor or unemployed, but because they are also angry, excluded, and feel themselves victims of injustice.

Mohamed Yahya, UNDP Africa's regional programs coordinator, makes the case in a blog post that socioeconomic factors contribute dangerously to the rise of violent extremism, on top of an individual's identity and vulnerability to manipulation. This confirms that a bundle of factors pushes people beyond the critical level of violent radicalism. Unsurprisingly, underprivileged regions where exclusion, injustice, and unemployment are very prevalent are more prone to violent extremist recruitment.

The evidence suggests the following partial conclusion: unemployment is a risk factor for violent extremism, though certainly not the only one. If it's true that unemployment is part of the problem, could entrepreneurship possibly be part of the solution? What if unemployment is understood not only as an economic fact, but also a social and psychological reality? If entrepreneurship is defined as alertness to opportunities, how could entrepreneurship be part of the solution to violent extremism?

Youth Employment and Extremism

The International Labor Organization (ILO) defines unemployment based on a person of working age who meets three criteria: the person is i) without work, i.e., not paid or self-employed, ii) currently available for work, and iii) seeking work (ILO, page 47). This definition highlights the ability and willingness of the unemployed to work as an individual and rational economic agent.

An approach to unemployment that goes beyond strict economic lenses suggests that employment provides more than just financial means. Using the data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), Chrystobal Young explores the non-pecuniary cost of unemployment. He shows that "unemployment is a trigger event that sets off a large shift in people's subjective well-being, on an order of magnitude greater than the effect of changes in family structure, home ownership, or parental status" (Young, page 610). This echoes research by Hans de Witte et al., who studied the affective experiences, attitudes to work, and job application behavior of a sample survey of 381 of unemployed people in the North West province of South Africa. They conclude that "being unemployed was described as very unpleasant and it was associated with boredom, loneliness, uncertainty about the future, concerns about financial matters, emptiness and conflict."

In Africa, where family values and the sense of "togetherness" are fundamental, the impact of unemployment goes beyond a lost paycheck, which is why unemployment prepares the ground for violent extremism.

Indeed, besides the push factors discussed above, a number of psychological pull factors can attract vulnerable youth to violent extremism. These include the sense of certainty about the future (promises of heaven) if one becomes a member of a radicalized group; a sense of passion for doing the right thing, i.e. a belief that the radical ideology contains the real truth; and a sense of pride at being chosen, or seeing oneself as an instrument to convert others to the cause. In such a context, how could the mainstreaming of entrepreneurship education be a partial solution to both unemployment and violent extremism?

Entrepreneurship creates self-employment and develops a sense of self-agency and optimism about the future, despite potential failures. Harper considers that "Alertness to profit opportunities is the essence of entrepreneurship…Alertness is the entrepreneurial element in economic decision-making. It is a human propensity. What entrepreneurs do is identify opportunities for gain that others (and even they themselves) have earlier overlooked. The entrepreneur recognizes something that others have failed to recognise: that there is an opportunity waiting to be snapped up."[2] This definition suggests the benefits of entrepreneurship extend beyond paycheck. Entrepreneurship is a mindset — a "Weltanschauung," or a vision of the world — characterized by optimism and an eagerness to achieve a better situation using one's resources. Obviously not everyone can become a first-rate entrepreneur, but everyone can benefit from the opportunity to see if they have what it takes to succeed in creating their own business.[3]

In conclusion, the anger, despair, and sense of injustice that lead to violent extremism might be overcome with a spirit of optimism, hope, and merit. Entrepreneurship helps combat those feelings through self-employment, self-esteem, and a strengthened "social identity." The issues that underlie violent extremism are not about the individual, taken in isolation, but about human relations and our social being. Encouraging entrepreneurship therefore allows young people to flourish and reduces the seduction of easy answers and promises of heaven, curbing extreme violence.

Francois Pazisnewende Kaboré, Ph.D.is a Southern Voices Network scholar at the Wilson Center from May to July 2016. He is the Director of the Jesuit University Institute at the Center for Research and Action for Peace (CERAP), a member of the Southern Voices Network.

[1] De Witte et al. (2012). "The psychological consequences of unemployment in South Africa, South Africa Journal of Economic and Management Sciences" (SAJEMS) NS 15 (2012) No 3

[2] Harper, David (2003). Foundations of Entrepreneurship and Economic Development. London, 289p.; p.19

[3] Note that between 2002 and 2010, 85 percent of the net new jobs in the European Union were created by small and medium enterprises run by entrepreneurs.