Paper short abstract:

African interventions are often characterized as less coercive and more legitimate compared to ‘Western’ interveners. This paper (1) explores perceptions of coercion beyond the spotlight; and (2) delineates citizens’ logics of making sense of and (de-)legitimizing the use of (non-)military coercion.

Paper long abstract:

The African Union (AU) and, in particular, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have gained prominence in addressing political crises and violent conflicts. In contrast to old allies, intervention research characterizes African interventions as less or even non-coercive enjoying more legitimacy among those at the ‘receiving’ end. However, this reading has recently become challenged, not last by the announcement of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger to withdraw from ECOWAS. But beyond the political and social elites, how coercive are African interventions perceived to be? And, what constitutes coercion for whom and under what conditions? Drawing on ethnographic elements, interview and focus group research in The Gambia conducted between 2021 and 2023, this paper delves into the experiences of Gambians beyond the spotlight and how they regard the ECOWAS interventions post-2016. In doing so, this paper (1) delineates the relational and intricate nature of perceptions of coercion in the context of interventions. Evolving from the (non-)interactions between interveners at the centres of power and those intervened upon at the margins, these perceptions manifest in a manner that is contingent upon temporal, spatial, and positional parameters. Subsequently, the paper (2) foregrounds the nuanced logics through which Gambian citizens make sense of and legitimize the use of coercion, both in military and non-military forms, challenging its dominant negative reading. In conclusion, this paper suggests coercion as an analytical lens and perception research as a methodological tool to elucidate the varied repercussions of African interventions beyond the spotlight.