A STATE IN THE STATE : THE ROLE OF TRANSNATIONAL AGENTS IN THE DESTATALIZATION PROCESS: THE CASE OF MALI

Abstract: The thesis focuses on the current Malian situation, that observed a severe penetration of jihadist groups (transnational agents), and attempts to understand this phenomenon in accordance with a theoretical framework that accounts for the crisis of the concept of Westphalian state in contemporary international panorama. The analysis is structured on two levels, investigating the structural issues and the political and social mutations, both on the regional and on the state dimension.