The overlapping of a series of events in the region has brought the Sahel under the spotlight of many European countries. It has been argued that the peculiar transnational nature of many terrorist groups of the area represents a concrete threat to European security. France, specifically, has led and encouraged a series of European initiatives, which aim to stabilize the region, calling for different degrees of counterterrorism cooperation with its European allies. Many European countries, such as Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, or Italy, have indeed increased their engagement in the area. Yet, not only a variety of new actors are now involved in the response to terrorism, but European cooperation among key actors is also developing along political-strategic, organizational, and procedural dimensions largely unexplored by the existing literature. This paper specifically accounts for the different multilevel configurations of European counterterrorism cooperation in the Sahel between 2012 and 2018. More specifically, the aim of this contribution is twofold. First, theoretically, through the concept of “patchwork” the paper proposes a conceptual framework able to investigate and analyze the apparently confusing multidimensional and multi-actor European cooperation in counterterrorism. Second, it empirically researches and analyzes the types of cooperation and the actors that fulfil key strategic positions in the patchwork. Overall, this paper provides a first complete account of the universe of European actors involved in the region and the types of cooperative patterns.

中文翻译：

---

反恐拼凑：分析欧洲在萨赫勒的合作类型

该地区一系列事件的重叠，使萨赫勒地区成为许多欧洲国家的焦点。有人认为，该地区许多恐怖组织的特殊跨国性质对欧洲安全构成了具体威胁。具体而言，法国领导并鼓励了一系列旨在稳定该地区的欧洲倡议，呼吁与其欧洲盟友开展不同程度的反恐合作。许多欧洲国家，如西班牙、德国、荷兰或意大利，确实增加了在该领域的参与。然而，现在不仅有各种新的行动者参与了应对恐怖主义的行动，而且欧洲主要行动者之间的合作也在沿着政治战略、组织和程序方面发展，而这些方面在现有文献中很大程度上是未曾探索过的。本文具体说明了 2012 年至 2018 年间欧洲在萨赫勒地区反恐合作的不同多层次配置。更具体地说，本文的目的是双重的。首先，在理论上，通过“拼凑”的概念，本文提出了一个概念框架，能够调查和分析明显令人困惑的多维度和多行动者的欧洲反恐合作。其次，实证研究和分析了合作类型和在拼凑中履行关键战略地位的参与者。总体而言，本文首次全面介绍了该地区涉及的欧洲参与者的范围以及合作模式的类型。