Editorial
Another Governance Vacuum, Now in Mali
Islamists in Northern Mali. Courtesy of the New York Times. 2013
Broken Social Contracts
On top of the colorful bands of rebels and warlords that inadvertently occupy them, governance vacuums in areas as small as Djibouti and as vast as the jungles of the Democratic Republic of Congo not only contribute to modern day concepts such as ‘ the failed state;’ but especially endanger human security – simply because of the absence of an effective social contract.
At its most effective, a social contract stipulates that if a leader does not govern equitably, the people can remove him from power. John Locke’s ‘Second Treatise of Government’ of 1689 goes even further: People are obligated to, and, do, in fact, have a fundamental right to revolt against leadership if they are not getting what they want.
These social contract aspects, for the most part, worked for early civil insurrection – the American rebellion against the British; for the Chinese when Mao brought people together, and the Bolsheviks bore the former Soviet Union. But today, any piece of ungoverned real estate – be it on land, sea, or air – will lead to the dire straits of the Somali pirate kind and the immeasurable misery in various East, Central and Southern Africa refugee camps.
And with the failure of the Mali government in Bamako to effectively husband its massive territory, the unbearably hot parts of the Sahara desert are now just as dicey as the Indian Ocean was at the height of the Somali pirate empire.
The Crisis in Mali, unfortunately, happens in a very predictable fashion. Making the execution of social contract theory more complex are the formal or informal alliances that exist within this imperfect global dynamic of fully formalized sovereign nations. The people of Mali have tried to speak out – like the Tuareg have done since early in the 20th century – but more factors including post colonial elements of inverted economies and dictatorial tendencies – have come to pass. And so, we have this current need for equilibrium: There’s a defacto head of state, Dioncounda Traore and a whole host of illustrative characters vying for either his head or Sundiata Keita‘s throne; among whom is Iyad Ag Ghaly, leader of al-Qaeda off-shoot Ansar Dine.
Now, just as we’d advocate that Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir be held responsible for crimes against his own wards in Darfur and present day South Sudan, Malians may not be as well served by Mr. Ghaly if he is as closely associated with terrorists as he is rumored to be. Even the Russians underline how little world favor terrorism curries. Besides with drones effectively decimating al-Qaeda’s terrorist ranks in the hotspots of the Middle East, internal dynamics once again conspire to, like we have mentioned before, destabilize the plexus upon which global dynamics rest. The Americans are practically raring to go if al Qaeba threatens US national security – and the French have already received their taste of battle in Mali.
Simply, this scenario could, unless delicately handled, morph into something much bigger – considering the power kegs around Mali’s oil, huge mineral deposits and especially, the presence of what seems like jihad-ready, battle-hardened conscripts – ripe for an assignment from God.
