EU policy towards the sahel in the “post-West” era

Abstract

President Trump’s 2026 comments on Greenland, Afghanistan, and the future of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) highlight growing tensions between the United States and its European allies. In the context of the U.S.-led withdrawal from Afghanistan and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine—a development Timothy Garton Ash has described as signaling the emergence of a “post-West” era—this article contends that the Sahel represents a further critical strategically revealing case for examining pressures on the Western-dominated Liberal International Order (LIO). Drawing on a qualitative analysis and process tracing, the article examines how declining Western legitimacy, contested sovereignty, and the diversification of external power relationships have weakened the EU’s normative and strategic influence in the region. It argues that military regimes and local actors selectively leverage multipolar competition to resist external conditionality and expand their autonomy. In doing so, the article contributes to broader debates on international order, EU normative power, and strategic realignment in an increasingly fragmented global system.