The Malian State, Social Exclusion, Political Marginalisation and the Tuareg Rebellions : A War with No End In Sight? 

Social exclusion and political marginalisation are concepts entrenched in political science discourse yet resist scholarly efforts to assign their nature a rigid frame. Employing secondary sources within a historical-descriptive, explanatory and analytical research design, this study interrogates the impacts of claims of social exclusion and political marginalisation and their role in the Tuareg rebellion and the protraction of the armed conflict in Mali. It argues that, while armed conflict persists in Mali, the narrow interpretation, lack of consensus on determining thresholds, misrepresentation of poverty to represent social exclusion and political marginalisation, coupled with reductionist explanations of the crisis, have worsened the security situation in Mali and imperiling the probability of achieving sustainable peace. Hence, there is the need for the Malian government to respect salient issues in peace agreements reached with warring parties; adopt social policies encompassing job provision, poverty eradication, provision of basic infrastructure and security in the bid to address issues fuelling; and prevent a relapse into a future state of conflict. Lastly, the international community must collaborate with the Malian government to ensure peace deals beyond paper are implemented.