Failing at Violence: The Longer-lasting Impact of Pro-government Militias in Northern Mali since 2012

This article examines the impact of violence on the state and on civil-military relations of pro-government militias that failed to use violence to influence the outcome of the conflict. It uses the case of the Mouvement Patriotique Ganda Koy and the Ganda Iso. It argues that, since 2012, militias have succeeded in increasing political influence and in framing a national narrative; it further reflects on how state sovereignty can be reappropriated by the agency of civilians once a state institution, the military, fails to defend it.