How the JNIM is reshaping authority in Mali through functional control
The strategic Mourdiah-Nara road linking Bamako to western Mali reopened on June 24, 2026, after weeks of blockade by the Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM). This wasn’t achieved through military force, but through negotiations led by local leaders and community figures with the jihadist group. The incident reveals a deeper shift in conflict dynamics across the Sahel, where control over state functions now rivals territorial dominance as the primary objective.
From territorial conquest to functional capture
Recent developments in Mali suggest a fundamental transformation in how conflicts unfold. While traditional warfare focused on capturing and holding territory, today’s battles increasingly target the functions that make society function: securing trade routes, regulating markets, controlling population movements, and administering justice.
The JNIM’s strategy has evolved accordingly. Since 2024, the group has systematically targeted critical road networks connecting Bamako to key cities like Kayes, Nioro-du-Sahel, Ségou, Mourdiah, and Nara. These operations extend far beyond military objectives, disrupting supply chains, paralyzing local economies, and fundamentally altering daily life for millions.
This represents a strategic shift from what military analysts call territorial control to functional capture. The JNIM appears less interested in administering territories directly than in appropriating the very functions that make state presence socially valuable. Roads, once mere transport infrastructures, now serve as political institutions where the group can:
- Impose taxes on commercial flows
- Regulate market access
- Condition population mobility
- Mediate local disputes
- Provide alternative security arrangements
In this context, controlling a road becomes about exercising prerogatives traditionally associated with public authority rather than simply occupying space.
The erosion of state authority through functional displacement
The reopening of the Mourdiah-Nara axis illustrates how authority is being contested beyond traditional state institutions. The negotiations involved local notables, religious leaders, and community representatives—not because they support the JNIM’s ideology, but because their survival depends on reopening trade routes and restoring economic flows.
This reality challenges Max Weber’s classic definition of the state as an entity that monopolizes legitimate violence. In Mali’s peripheries, authority is increasingly fragmented across multiple actors:
- State institutions retain formal legal legitimacy
- Traditional authorities (customary chiefs, religious leaders) provide social cohesion
- The JNIM builds what might be termed performative legitimacy—authority derived not from institutional status or tradition, but from demonstrated capacity to provide order and security
The JNIM’s approach suggests a deliberate strategy to progressively displace state authority rather than directly challenge it. By assuming control over functions that populations associate with effective governance—security, justice, resource allocation—the group doesn’t need to conquer state institutions to undermine their credibility.
When communities become arbiters of order
The intervention of local communities in negotiating the road’s reopening reflects a critical reality: these populations operate under survival imperatives that transcend political allegiances. Traders, transporters, herders, and rural youth all have distinct relationships with armed groups, creating constant negotiation spaces where authority is contested and redefined.
This dynamic suggests that state authority in the Sahel is increasingly contested not through direct confrontation, but through the gradual erosion of its practical legitimacy. The JNIM’s strategy appears designed to demonstrate that it can provide the order and predictability that populations expect from their government—without necessarily replacing state institutions.
Rethinking the battle for authority in the Sahel
The fundamental question facing Mali—and the broader Sahel—is no longer simply about who controls which territory, but who can claim to provide the functions that make life livable. The JNIM’s evolving strategy suggests that the group seeks to position itself as a credible alternative provider of governance in areas where state presence remains inconsistent.
The challenge for Mali’s government may lie less in military reconquest than in restoring its credibility as the primary guarantor of security, justice, and economic continuity. Each successful mediation, each reopened road, each resolved dispute outside formal institutions subtly shifts the boundaries of political legitimacy in favor of whichever actor can demonstrate the greatest capacity to organize collective life.
In this evolving landscape, the contest isn’t primarily about weapons or territory—it’s about who can claim the authority to shape daily existence in the eyes of local populations.