Galli Non Grata in Mali? Explaining why France left Mali in August 2022

Sammanfattning: Based on the understanding that Mali and Russia will be unable to contain the jihadist security threat in Mali, this paper explains why France withdrew from Mali in 2022 and why the latter intensified its cooperation with Russia. Existing literature points to operational obstacles and grievances directed towards France’s presence in Mali, however, it falls short of explaining whether these are explanatory for France’s withdrawal, or why France wouldn’t have left earlier considering these hurdles. Through process tracing and historical institutionalism, this paper studies the sequence of events that led up to France’s withdrawal, and whether the grievances against the popular dissatisfaction with the security framework in Mali actually has explanatory power over France’s withdrawal.