Sebastian Elischer. Salafism and Political Order in Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021. xv + 297. Tables. Bibliography. Index. $40.84. Paper. ISBN: 9781108739276.

Why do some states in sub-Saharan Africa manage to curb the emergence of local jihadi groups, a serious challenge to internal stability and political order, while others fail doing so?In this volume, Sebastian Elischer offers an elegant and relatively parsimonious answer.Certain states created, after formal independence from colonialism, a set of institutions to deal with the Islamic sphere; other states did not.This set of institutions, which the author calls "national Islamic associations," permitted bureaucratic control of Islamic movements and groups.This move guaranteed the state a constant dialogue with such formations, enabled the vetting of their leaders, allowed co-opting them into the state bureaucracy itself, and made targeted repression of violent dissidence easier.Contrariwise, states that did not create such institutions let Islamic movements themselves organize "Islamic Federations," which could become foci of contestation of state power.State inaction or concessions, in these cases, led to further radicalization and escalation of conflict: the state responded with indiscriminate repression, fueling in turn more resentment on the part of vast swaths of population affected by state violence.Elischer builds his theory inductively from six cases.In Chad, Niger, and Uganda, postcolonial regimes created national Islamic associations.In Mauritania, Mali, and Kenya, we witness instead the emergence of Islamic federations.In the former, we observe jihadism only as a marginal phenomenon; or else as a foreign one, that enters the country from abroad.In the latter, homegrown jihadism is instead capable of mounting a sustained challenge to state authority.The author proceeds to test his theory against four other cases: Ghana and Senegal (where jihadism has not emerged); Nigeria and Burkina Faso (where jihadism has emerged).Steeped in the tradition of historical institutionalism, Elischer presents detailed political histories of all the cases under examination to infer causality via careful process tracing of critical junctures-where decision makers at the state level adopted policies to shore up their rule.Relying on extensive field research over a span of eight years (from 2010 to 2018), and benefitting from hundreds of interviews with local leaders, officials, and experts, Elischer marshals his argument cogently and persuasively.Set-theory methods clarify causal paths and connections (the many tables do help in navigating such contentions, highlighting, within the rich narratives, key mechanisms and junctures).Of particular interest are the unintended consequences that may originate from