Pious Voices Unheard: Religion, Peacebuilding, and the Conflict in Mali

This paper seeks to explain the absence of religion in peacebuilding and peacekeeping operations through an in-depth examination of the contemporary Islamist crisis in Mali. Beginning by analyzing and explicating contemporary peacekeeping doctrines, the paper then explores the contemporary religious landscape in Mali, as well as the historical record. This paper contends that the absence of religion in non-Western contexts is best attributed to : Western fascination with militant jihad, biases in Western models of peackeeping and the emphasis on secularism, an influx of Saudi Arabian money, and the high transmissibility of Salafism.