Northern Mali Civil War

Introduction

One of the focuses of this paper is to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of historians' approach to the causes of war, and to discuss its strengths and weaknesses. This paper will also discuss the kind of conflict which the Northern Mali Civil War is, and argue the causes of the war.

Key Words: Mali, War, Tuareg, Ethnic, Religious

Strengths and Weaknesses of Historians' Approach

Historians, over time, have propounded various factors that could be causes of war. Like every other proposition, these have been subject to criticism. Levy (1998:142), in summary, proposed that a war may occur as a result of actions individuals, states, and international societies. Addressing them respectively, these causes may stem from the fact that individuals make choices based on their beliefs, preferences, emotional states, psychological processes, and other factors. A war may also be as a result of states, that is war due to national causes. States` interests, national beliefs, collective cultural and religious opinions could lead to clashes that may result in war. Lastly, international societies may also be root causes as evident in interferences, from religious groups, peace interventions, and the like.

As much as the above stated have evidently been causes of war, they may not serve as hard and fast determinants as to why a war may occur. The concept, “war,” may be too complex to be easily captured in such theoretical categorisations. But this is not to say that the propositions are invalid; of course, they have their strengths. Considering the Northern Mali Civil War, it is quite evident that the Tuaregs did not become a warring group overnight. It was as a result of long-endured negligence (or the mere feeling of it). Asides being of the same descent, the Tuaregs were comrades with ethnic and religious goals. Without an iota of doubt, the Northern Mali Civil War was clearly based on individual actions.

However, war causes may not be as straight-jacketed as historians posit. This is because wars are in some cases caused by a combination of various factors. That is, wars sometimes result from various happenings at different levels over time. These happenings might have resulted into wars because they were not given adequate attention at their times of occurrence. In Mali, for instance, weak structures in leadership had its part to play, a reason for the 2012 coup and related conflicts; however, the state factor was only secondary.

What Kind of Conflict the Northern Mali Civil War?

The bane of Northern Mali Civil War was the crave for influence and financial gain. These are major root causes of many wars. Disgruntled groups tend to frustrate political leaderships to achieve their goals. The conflict between the Tuaregs and other communities in Mali can be described as ethnic. The Tuareg expressed grievances towards past experiences as far back as the French colonial rule. However, the Northern Mali Civil War also has a religion twist to it, asides its ethnicity, and politics. As earlier stated in this paper, the causes of war are many times a combination of various factors. The causes of the war in Mali is just typical of this — mixed factors. The rise of religious leaders in politics cannot be ruled out too. However, the fact of the matter remains that the war was primarily caused by individual dissatisfaction.

An Argument on the Causes of the Northern Mali Civil War

As earlier mentioned, the Tuaregs had continuously felt discriminated against, and unrepresented in the government. This led to a severe backlash, one that the Malian government found tough. As already stated in this paper, individual dissatisfaction was a key player in the war. Of course, individuals would not fight single-handedly, hence a collective agitation. In every war, the reactions of conflict instigators give clues to their agitations. It is evident that the grievances of the Tuareg people stemmed from ethnic resentment, and of course, there was a religious twist to it, as reflected in the enforcement of Sharia law, and similar acts. So in essence, the Northern Mali Civil war had intertwined causes, and to refer to the causes of war in Levy (1998:142), the Northern Mali Civil War was first and primarily as a result of individual dissatisfaction, which then resulted to the state level.

Conclusion

The Northern Mali Civil War shows the result imbalance of ethnic representation in government. Individuals desire to be represented in government at different levels, and in their various forms ― ethnic, religious, ideological, and so on.

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