Item Details
Skip Navigation Links
   ActiveUsers:1465Hits:19145518Skip Navigation Links
Show My Basket
Contact Us
IDSA Web Site
Ask Us
Today's News
HelpExpand Help
Advanced search

In Basket
  Journal Article   Journal Article
 

ID124759
Title ProperDemocracy in early Malian postcolonial history
Other Title Informationthe abuse of discourse
LanguageENG
AuthorNathan, Robert
Publication2013.
Summary / Abstract (Note)The level of public support for the March 2012 military coup d'état in Mali surprised many observers who viewed the country as a viable democracy and believed its inhabitants perceived it in the same light. This article suggests that, despite this favourable appraisal by certain outsiders, many Malians had low levels of confidence in the democracy of President Amadou Toumani Touré, considering it corrupt and dysfunctional. In light of such attitudes in the present, this article turns toward the past to draw lessons from Mali's history of démocratie de façade. It examines Mali's earliest engagement with democracy in the late colonial era, and the manner in which democratic political discourse was abused by Mali's first postcolonial government. It suggests that Malian leaders' long history of invoking democratic principles for non-democratic aims may have weakened the legitimacy of the government following the 2012 coup d'état, and could make the reestablishment of confidence in Mali's democracy a more challenging task than simply organizing new multi-party elections.
`In' analytical NoteInternational Journal Vol. 68, No.3; Sep 2013: p.466-478
Journal SourceInternational Journal Vol. 68, No.3; Sep 2013: p.466-478
Key WordsMali ;  Democracy ;  Legitimacy ;  Postcolonial Africa ;  Coup ;  D'état


 
 
Media / Other Links  Full Text