Senegal’s Post-Independence Development: A Systematic Review of the Struggle for Land, Identity, and Autonomy in Casamance

Abstract

Scholarship in peace and conflict studies has long supported a state-centered approach to addressing the causes and consequences of internal conflict worldwide. Rejecting previous state-bias analyses, this paper aims to understand the impact of African geography’s colonial legacies on local communities’ daily conditions and political stability. Through a systematic review of Casamance as a critical rural geography—known for enduring one of Africa’s longest-running conflicts, this study examines why, despite ongoing state efforts, uncertainty about the conflict’s resolution persists. Identifying the major factors that cause political instability, this paper aims to provide insight into how historical injustices left unaddressed has caused a cycle of civil conflict in Southern Senegal. To resolve internal contestations, this review asserts the vitality of addressing ongoing inequalities rooted in land rights, political representation, infrastructure development, and economic disparities between urban centers and rural geographies in African nation-states. To achieve peace amidst internal conflict, this study recommends that the international community take an innovative approach to the development of localized and community-based solutions to problems hindering conflict resolution.