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Being plagued for decades by political tension, structural violence and armed conflict, recently the West African coastal region moved a step closer towards political stability and sustainable peace. This article assesses the wars in Guinea‐Bissau, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Cote d’Ivoire and the role of young people in these. It is argued that young people experienced a crisis prior to the conflicts: the patrimonial structured states were no longer able to fulfil their promises towards their clients with young people – at the lowest rungs of the patrimonial ladder – becoming the main victims of this failure. In some cases an additional crisis was experienced: due to a generational asymmetric control over resources – such as a productive and reproductive means and customary law – young people became particularly vulnerable to exploitation by elites who could jeopardize their social transition from youthhood to adulthood. For many of youthful participants in the conflicts, this single or double failure – from the state and the more traditional organised localities – was a driving force in the decision to actively participate in the conflicts, it is argued. Moreover, by joining the militias or armed forces young people entered an alternative structure, in some cases more based on meritocratic than on patrimonial principles, offering opportunities to those who normally would have remained vulnerable to exploitation and marginalisation.