Civic and Political Behavior in Mali: Constraints and Possibilities

a beacon of good governance in the region, decades of free and fair elections and extensive civil liberties failed to engender public support for democracy following the March 2012 coup d’état. Demonstrations against the military junta were half as large as demonstrations in support of it. What looked to be strong democratic institutions from the outside were often hollow shells that privileged the elite class and marginalized everyone else – not a system ultimately worth fighting for. This essay discusses some of the constraints to democratic accountability in Mali and what can be done to mitigate them. In light of the July election date currently being touted by influential Western powers, it is critical that the same mistakes not be remade, pushing Mali back into a democracy in name only. During its two decades of democratic rule, Mali was praised for the fact that power changed hands peacefully from one political party to another, that most elections were judged free and fair by election observers, and that civic and political associations abounded. I was therefore surprised on visits to the country over the past decade by the general apathy toward and isolation from the democratic process expressed primarily by rural villagers who make up 80 percent of Mali’s population. For democracy to work, for it to engender a modicum of accountability to a majority of its citizenry, requires a minimum level of civic engagement on the part of that population. At the most basic level, voters should place some value on the ability to freely select leaders. Further, voters should be able to make an informed choice when selecting those leaders. Even compared to other African countries, Malian voters do not appear to be in a position to achieve these goals. When it comes to voters expressing a preference for democracy over other forms of government such as military or single-party rule, Mali ranks in the 72nd percentile of African countries.1 Mali is also the third worst African country in terms of adult literacy (UNDP 2012) -a critical skill necessary for engaging in civic and political life. Such constraints have consequences for government accountability and representativeness. Corruption and nepotism pervade Mali’s political elite class who are seldom punished electorally or otherwise. And with the world record for low voter turnout in the 1990’s, Mali’s voter participation has improved little in recent elections (IDEA 2013). To be more than a democracy in name only in the future requires a deeper understanding of democracy’s past failures, some of which I discuss below. These and other shortcomings have not disappeared since the coup, so rushing Mali into another round of internationally sanctioned elections risks erecting another democratic facade that Gottlieb, J 2013 Civic and Political Behavior in Mali: Constraints and Possibilities. Stability: International Journal of Security & Development, 2(2): 19, pp. 1-5, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/sta.bd