Uploaded August 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Are we seeing the return of Boko Haram? Once one of the world’s most feared Islamist insurgencies, the group is showing troubling signs of resurgence in Nigeria and across the Lake Chad Basin. After years of mass killings, suicide bombings, and kidnappings, in particular the abduction of schoolgirls in Chibok, the 2021 death of its leader Abubakar Shekau, and factional splits that followed had seemed to leave the group critically weakened. Recently, however, large-scale assaults, kidnappings, and suicide bombings suggest Boko Haram is making a comeback, in spite of military offensives and airstrikes by Nigerian forces and regional partners.
This video explores the Islamist group’s origins, and how, albeit weaker than a decade ago, its attacks continue to pose a threat to Nigeria’s fragile stability, while fuelling food insecurity, and a spill-over of violence into neighbouring Chad, Niger, and Cameroon. Given the challenge of combating insurgencies in areas plagued by poverty, corruption, and weak governance, can Boko Haram ever truly be defeated, or will it continue to destabilise the region for decades to come?
*VIDEO CHAPTERS*
00:00 Introduction and Titles
00:51 - Islamist Insurgencies and Boko Haram
02:05 - Nigeria’s Location, Population, and Religion
02:40 - Religion and the Emergence of Modern Nigeria
06:20 - The Weakening and Apparent Defeat of Boko Haram
07:52 - Increasing Boko Haram Attacks
09:02 - Can Boko Haram Be Defeated?
*SUPPORT INDEPENDENT ANALYSIS*
If you enjoy the channel and would like to support independent analysis of international relations, conflict, and security, there are several ways you can help:
SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE
youtube.com/channel/UCEszqJb1FjYisBevHBIof3g
youtube.com/c/JamesKerLindsay?sub_confirmation=1
JOIN THE COMMUNITY AND BECOME A CHANNEL MEMBER
YouTube: youtube.com/c/JamesKerLindsay/join
Patreon: patreon.com/JamesKerLindsay
*MY LATEST BOOK!*
Secession and State Creation: What Everyone Needs to Know
Oxford University Press global.oup.com/academic/product/secession-and-state-creation-9780190494049
Amazon amzn.to/2MPY3W2
Some of the links above are affiliate links. These pay a small commission if you make a purchase. This helps to support the channel at no additional cost to you.
#Nigeria #IslamistInsurgencies #BokoHaram
Are we seeing the return of Boko Haram? Once one of the world’s most feared Islamist insurgencies, the group is showing troubling signs of resurgence in Nigeria and across the Lake Chad Basin. After years of mass killings, suicide bombings, and kidnappings, in particular the abduction of schoolgirls in Chibok, the 2021 death of its leader Abubakar Shekau, and factional splits that followed had seemed to leave the group critically weakened. Recently, however, large-scale assaults, kidnappings, and suicide bombings suggest Boko Haram is making a comeback, in spite of military offensives and airstrikes by Nigerian forces and regional partners.
This video explores the Islamist group’s origins, and how, albeit weaker than a decade ago, its attacks continue to pose a threat to Nigeria’s fragile stability, while fuelling food insecurity, and a spill-over of violence into neighbouring Chad, Niger, and Cameroon. Given the challenge of combating insurgencies in areas plagued by poverty, corruption, and weak governance, can Boko Haram ever truly be defeated, or will it continue to destabilise the region for decades to come?
*VIDEO CHAPTERS*
00:00 Introduction and Titles
00:51 - Islamist Insurgencies and Boko Haram
02:05 - Nigeria’s Location, Population, and Religion
02:40 - Religion and the Emergence of Modern Nigeria
06:20 - The Weakening and Apparent Defeat of Boko Haram
07:52 - Increasing Boko Haram Attacks
09:02 - Can Boko Haram Be Defeated?
*SUPPORT INDEPENDENT ANALYSIS*
If you enjoy the channel and would like to support independent analysis of international relations, conflict, and security, there are several ways you can help:
SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE
youtube.com/channel/UCEszqJb1FjYisBevHBIof3g
youtube.com/c/JamesKerLindsay?sub_confirmation=1
JOIN THE COMMUNITY AND BECOME A CHANNEL MEMBER
YouTube: youtube.com/c/JamesKerLindsay/join
Patreon: patreon.com/JamesKerLindsay
*MY LATEST BOOK!*
Secession and State Creation: What Everyone Needs to Know
Oxford University Press global.oup.com/academic/product/secession-and-state-creation-9780190494049
Amazon amzn.to/2MPY3W2
Some of the links above are affiliate links. These pay a small commission if you make a purchase. This helps to support the channel at no additional cost to you.
#Nigeria #IslamistInsurgencies #BokoHaram
