-
Recent Posts
Archives
- January 2023
- August 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- October 2021
- June 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- November 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- December 2018
- July 2018
- August 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- September 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- November 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- October 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
Meta
Follow me on Twitter
My Tweets
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Twilight of the griot
Editor’s note: In preparing a book manuscript on marriage based on 2010-2012 fieldwork, I find some interviews that I can’t integrate into the project. I’ve decided to start posting a few of the more noteworthy ones, translated and edited, to … Continue reading
A lesson in sociability
While 2018 has been an eventful year for Mali–mostly for the wrong reasons–it’s also seen my least frequent blogging since I began in 2011. Instead of tracking the political and security situation on the ground as it goes from bad … Continue reading
Three predictions about Mali’s 2018 presidential election
News from Mali just keeps getting worse. More than five years after French soldiers ousted jihadi fighters from northern Mali and nominally restored central government sovereignty there, the country has grown even more unsafe and fractious. The peace accord signed … Continue reading
Corruption and the presidential plane
This post was written by Amadou O. Wane and A. Karim Sylla of the MaliLink Investigative Reporting Group. A longer version was published in French by Inf@Sept on 11 August. Mali’s presidential plane has undoubtedly been the subject of controversy. … Continue reading
Mali’s proposed constitutional reform: mal-intentioned, or merely inept?
This post was written by A. Karim Sylla of the MaliLink Investigative Reporting Group. 17 June saw what may have been the largest protest march ever held in Bamako. Many tens of thousands of people–organizers claimed it was in the … Continue reading
How did Mali get here? (Part 5: Institutional explanations)
In this final installment of the series we consider the role of Mali’s political institutions in generating the wave of instability and political violence that has engulfed the country since 2012. Institutionalist analysis ascribes a country’s success–or lack thereof–to the … Continue reading
How did Mali get here? (Part 4: Geopolitical explanations)
In seeking to understand the long-term sources of instability in Mali, analytical perspectives centered on geopolitics emphasize competition among states, including the Malian government, its Sahelian neighbors, and extra-regional players, in shaping events there. These perspectives pit the Malian state’s … Continue reading
How did Mali get here? (Part 3: Anti-imperialist explanations)
To account for the extent of state decay and recent political violence in Mali, Western journalists, diplomats and security specialists have often focused on proximate causes (e.g., Islamic radicalization, state corruption, the spread of small arms, and inter-ethnic tensions) with … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
1 Comment
How did Mali get here? (Part 2: From military rule to multiparty politics)
Introduction: This post is the second in a series reviewing Mali’s modern history and present trajectory. Subsequent posts will survey the distinct but overlapping analyses of Mali’s postcolonial development. As I work to improve my draft for publication, I invite … Continue reading
How did Mali get here? (Part 1: Echoes of decolonization)
Introduction: Recently I’ve been drafting a brief overview of Mali’s modern history and present trajectory. The aim is to excavate the long-term political, economic, and historical underpinnings of Mali’s ongoing instability. This post is the first in a series on … Continue reading