Professor Mahaman Tidjani Alou is Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Law at Abdou Moumouni University (Niamey), Niger. He previously worked for 16 years at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Niger where he was the European Director (1997-1999) and at the Centre for Research on Social Dynamics and Local Development (LASDEL) which he headed between 2001 and 2007. He holds a PhD in political science from the University of Bordeaux 1 and has published widely on the state in Africa, on policies of north-south cooperation, on decentralization, on political elites and on development policies.