Ten years after France launched its military intervention in Mali to oust jihadist militants, its influence in West Africa’s Sahel region is waning. Against this backdrop, French President Emmanuel Macron outlined a new “framework for security cooperation” last month as part of a new approach to relations with African countries.
Mali’s government is struggling to assert its authority as more communities fall to various Islamist groups. After a decade of faltering counterinsurgency efforts, it might be time to take a closer look at the biggest obstacle to stability —the Malian state’s chronic inability to counteract shadow governance structures.
The European Union and U.S. often fixate on democratic elections as the basic foundation of political legitimacy. But in West African states such as Mali and Guinea, elections have led to contested outcomes or enabled authoritarian power grabs, profoundly unsettling the hopes of many in and outside the region for a more stable future.
