Illiberalism and post-conflict settlements with jihadists: a Malian case study

Abstract

This paper draws on recent research in peace studies in order to analyse peacebuilding efforts with jihadists in central Mali. The paper explores two main streams of data: first, an exchange of messages between a Malian jihadist leader, Amadou Kouffa, and a Malian Muslim cleric; and, second, survey data on Malians’ attitudes towards politics and Islamic law. The paper also discusses what is known about a pattern of fragile, temporary, localised ceasefires with Malian jihadists. These different data sources highlight the poor fit between Western liberal peacemaking frameworks and some local conflict realities and aspirations, even amid a supposed ‘local turn’ in peacebuilding. Whereas liberal frameworks tend to assume that democracy, human rights, reconciliation, and secularism should be part of any peace settlement, some Malian elites and citizens appear open to illiberal solutions. These findings indicate substantial conceptual and practical challenges for the incorporation of local voices into peacebuilding agendas. The findings also add to an emerging literature on ‘illiberal peace’, which so far has focused mostly on top-down authoritarian models rather than civil society-driven illiberal compromise efforts.

Keywords:

• Jihadism
• secularism
• liberalism
• illiberalism
• Mali
• Sahel

Acknowledgements

A version of this paper was presented at a 2021 American Political Science Association panel organised by Jaimie Bleck. I thank Naunihal Singh, who was the discussant for my paper, for his extremely helpful comments. I also thank the three anonymous reviewers and the editors of TWQ for their feedback.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 Amadou Kouffa is a public figure in Mali, and the WhatsApp recording in question was massively circulated, so I treat it as a public utterance by a public figure. The Malian cleric who was his interlocutor in this context is, by contrast, much less well known, and naming him could draw unwarranted negative attention to him and his work.

2 Data from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, using the dashboard available at https://acleddata.com/dashboard/#/dashboard.

3 My source here is a statement recorded by Amadou Kouffa in August 2017 in Fulfulde, and then translated from Fulfulde to French by Oumar Sow. The translation from French to English is my own.

4 The translation from Arabic to English is my own.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Alexander Thurston

Alexander Thurston is Assistant Professor in the School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Cincinnati. He is the author of three books: Salafism in Nigeria: Islam, Preaching and Politics (Cambridge University Press, 2016); Boko Haram: The History of an African Jihadist Movement (Princeton University Press, 2018); and Jihadists of North Africa and the Sahel: Local Politics and Rebel Groups (Cambridge University Press, 2020). He has held fellowships with the Council on Foreign Relations, the Wilson Center, and the American Council of Learned Societies, among others. He has conducted field research in Senegal, Nigeria, Mauritania, Mali and Burkina Faso.