State decentralisation and local politics in Mali

• Autor(a) principal: Gaasholt, Ole Martin
• Data de Publicação: 2016
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: https://revistas.rcaap.pt/cea/article/view/8643
• topic: democratization; decentralisation; local power; Tuaregue

In Mali, the decentralisation as manifested in the municipal elections of 1999 was to be the end-point of the country's process of democratisation and also allow for increased regional and local autonomy. However, an inquiry into the reality of decentralisation in a Tuareg-dominated municipality revealed that the reform served to diminish state expenditure by transferring tasks rather than funds to the municipalities. In a strongly extroverted local economy, the municipality came to depend on NGO support. Diversion of funds from the state and NGOs by local notables anxious to develop «sites» inhabited by followers fed into local rivalries. The situation fosters violent conflicts among population groups and corruption in the administration and among the military.