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Paper short abstract:

This contribution presents empirical findings on how AU and ECOWAS and their interventions are perceived locally. Based on a case study on The Gambia, we argue that the AU/ECOWAS interventions are highly contested but that this contestedness has a crucial spatial, temporal, and social dimension.

Paper long abstract:

International interventions by Western actors have been receiving outright criticism ‘on the ground’. While these interventions have been studied closely, we know little how, in contrast, African interventions are perceived locally. To fill this gap, this contribution presents empirical findings on the AU and ECOWAS interventions in The Gambia in 2016/2017, where former President Yahya Jammeh refused to hand over power after his electoral defeat. With both military and non-military interventions, the AU and ECOWAS supported a successful transition. But how have Gambians perceived these interventions? In answering this question, this paper draws on extensive collaborative field research in The Gambia in 2021/2022 in which we conducted 11 focus group discussions and 85 interviews in the capital and beyond. This contribution lays out the pertinent narratives about AU and ECOWAS and their interventions in The Gambia. In the case of The Gambia, perceptions have been multiple and complex, at times even contradicting. While the interventions are mostly evaluated positively as having sided with the people, others describe the two organizations as “oppressors”. We explain this complexity with both spatial, temporal, and social factors that affect how these African regional interventions are perceived (differently). With this, we show that analyzing interventions ‘from below’ allows seeing the concrete effects of AU and ECOWAS conflict management on the ground and their spatial and temporal conditionality.