The Importance of a Party: Political Parties in Mali and the Fall of Democracy

In 2020, Mali experienced a military coup d’etat that overthrew the democracy that had ruled for almost thirty years. In the 90s and early 2000s, it was hailed as a beacon of democratic hope for Africa. Many scholars have studied the Malian democracy and characterized its downfall to its colonial legacy, the civic culture, the economy, and ethnicity, among others. However, the main literature leaves out a crucial aspect of the political life of a democracy: political parties. In this paper, I explore the possible connections that political parties may have had to the failure of the Malian democracy and what implications that may have for other democracies.