Paper short abstract:

The paper portrays and discusses the varied responses civilian populations offer when confronted with jihadist presence in Central Mali and the Tillaberi region of Niger, using insights from the rebel governance literature. It draws on dozens of interviews conducted between June and September 2022

Paper long abstract:

Jihadist groups operating in the Sahel are putting immense pressure on rural communities, as part of their attempts to carve out territorial and political influence. The insurgents' strategies vary depending on their ideological affiliation and the local social and political landscape they navigate. Similarly, the reactions of communities to the presence and injunctions of jihadists vary. They result in more or less stable patterns of interactions, ranging from violent resistance to jihadists (through the formation of self-defence militias) to compliance with the jihadist authority. Which pathways lead to these alternative outcomes is the main object of study of this paper, which draws on the analytical insights from the rebel governance literature. Based on dozens of interviews carried out in the Cercle de Djenné (Mali) and the Tillaberi region (Niger) between June and September 2022 as part of a project financed by the British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, our contribution documents these pathways empirically and explores the circumstances leading to armed resistance to the jihadist presence or to the elaboration of a proto-social contract between civilians and insurgents - known in Mali as "survival pacts". Eventually, the paper offers insights into the relative credibility of jihadists as local rulers and administrators of the distribution of local resources and into the forms of agency that civilians can manifest when confronted with armed actors.