- Wolfram Lacher
No Pillar of Stability: Mauritania’s Trajectory and the Pitfalls of European Cooperation

Mauritania’s importance as a partner for Europe is growing. Increased resources and foreign support could either help the ruling elite to consolidate power or worsen social fragilities. European migration and security policies risk adding to tensions.

Megatrends Policy Brief 38, 13.05.2025, 11 Seiten

doi:10.18449/2025MTA-PB38
- Zum Volltext (PDF) | 340 KB
- Wolfram Lacher
- Isabelle Werenfels
Mauritania’s Balancing Act amid Intensifying Algerian-Moroccan Rivalry

Algeria and Morocco are increasingly jostling for Mauritania’s favour. Observers watch for any sign that Mauritania might abandon its neutral stance. The rivalry plays out as much through propaganda as it does in reality – with potentially destabilising effects.

Megatrends spotlight 49, 07.04.2025
The Myth of the Gamechanger: Drones and Military Power in Africa

Advanced combat drones are increasingly used in conflicts in Africa. This analysis of the conflicts in Mali, Chad and Sudan shows, their potential to shift the balance of military power between state forces and insurgents depends on symmetrical access to technology, type of warfare and topography.

Megatrends Policy Brief 33, 05.03.2025, 14 Seiten

doi:10.18449/2025MTA-PB33
- Zum Volltext (PDF) | 706 KB
- Wolfram Lacher
Unsichtbare Besatzung: Die Türkei und Russland in Libyen
- Englisch
Westliche Regierungen werfen Russland und der Türkei vor, mit ihren Militäreinsätzen Libyen zu destabilisieren. Doch deren Präsenz ist im libyschen Alltag kaum spürbar, selbst in unmittelbarer Nähe ihrer Militärbasen. In diesem Megatrends Afrika Spotlight argumentiert Wolfram Lacher (SWP), dass beide Staaten bewusst Zurückhaltung üben, um langfristig in Libyen Fuß zu fassen – ein Ansatz, der bisher zu funktionieren scheint.

Megatrends Spotlight 35, 10.07.2024
- Wolfram Lacher
Chad Navigates Multipolar Disorder

Deby is seizing the multipolar disorder as an opportunity to consolidate his power. By capitalizing on Chad's status as one of the region’s last remaining partners of Western states, Deby has relied on French military presence as the ultimate deterrent against his overthrow by force. However, cooperation with the UAE in channelling military assistance to the RSF in Sudan, poses serious domestic and external risks.

Megatrends Policy Brief 19, 11.12.2023, 7 Seiten

doi:10.18449/2023MTA-PB19
- Zum Volltext (PDF) | 275 KB
- Benedikt Erforth
- Anna Hörter
- Wolfram Lacher
- Lisa Tschörner
Megatrends and Conflict Dynamics in Africa: Multipolarity and Delegation in Foreign Interventions

Megatrends such as climate change, digitalisation, and urbanisation are transforming all aspects of politics, economics and society in Africa. Consequently, they are also affecting conflict dynamics. This Working Paper focuses specifically on how megatrends are altering patterns of foreign intervention in African conflicts. Two aspects stand out: the range of intervening powers is widening, and they are intervening increasingly at arm’s length by delegating to human or technical surrogates.

Megatrends Working Paper 2022 02, 21.12.2022, 15 Seiten

doi:10.18449/2022MTA-WP02
- Zum Volltext (PDF) | 462 KB

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Externe Veröffentlichungen

- Wolfram Lacher
- Denis M. Tull
Konflikte ohne Bearbeitung

Das Ausmaß von Kriegen und Konflikten in Afrika ist im vergangenen Jahrzehnt weiter gestiegen. Neue externe Akteure sind maßgeblich an der Eskalation beteiligt, während sich Deutschland und Europa immer weiter zurückziehen.

in: Internationale Politik, 28.04.2025
- Wolfram Lacher
Libyen - die Clans und das Geld

Im August eskalierte der Streit zwischen den beiden mächtigsten Clans um die Kontrolle der Zentralbank, die die Milliarden aus dem Ölexport verwaltet. Die Machtbalance hat sich zugunsten der Haftars, der Herren des Ostens, verlagert. Die könnten sich ermutigt fühlen, die Regierung in Tripolis erneut herauszufordern.

in: Le Monde diplomatique, 10.10.2024
- Wolfram Lacher
Libya’s Struggles Empower a Clan

in: New Lines Magazine, 16.08.2024 (online)
- Wolfram Lacher
A Political Economy of Zawiya

Armed groups and society in a western Libyan city

Small Arms Survey Report, Geneva, March 2024
- Wolfram Lacher
- Virginie Collombier (Hg.)
Violence and Social Transformation in Libya

The definitive interdisciplinary volume on Libyan society's transformations over a decade of conflict and insecurity

London: Hurst, June 2023.
- Wolfram Lacher
How Libya’s Central Bank Chief Survived a Decade of Conflict

According to Siddiq Kabir, he is the last pillar holding the country together. His adversaries claim he is perpetuating a national crisis

in: New Lines Magazine, 06.03.2023 (online)

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Buchbesprechungen

Ausgewählte Rezensionen zu:

Wolfram Lacher
Libya’s Fragmentation
Structure and Process in Violent Conflict
I.B. Tauris, London 2020, 304 S., ISBN 978-0-755-60081-6

»Lacher makes a significant contribution to scholarship on contemporary events in Libya and to conflict studies more broadly.« – Tim Eaton, in: The Cairo Review of Global Affairs, Sommer 2020, Libya’s Fragmentation: Novel ways to understand why the Libyan revolution occurred and moves toward its resolution – Book Reviews – The Cairo Review of Global Affairs

»An indispensable work for anyone interested in Libya and North Africa, as well as in armed conflicts more generally« – Judith Scheele, in: Politique Africaine 160 (2020), Libya’s Fragmentation: Structure and Process in Violent Conflict – Revues des Livres – Polaf n° 160

»A remarkable combination of fieldwork and theory, Libya’s Fragmentation is highly recommended for diplomats, journalists, and scholars.« – Ronald Bruce St John, in: The Middle East Journal, Herbst 2020, Libya’s Fragmentation: Structure and Process in Violent Conflict by Wolfram Lacher – Review – The Middle East Journal