Ceux qui cherchent le pouvoir sont parmi nous : décentralisation, transformations du politique et autorités traditionnelles dans le Delta intérieur du fleuve Niger (Mali)

This research aims to understand the transformations of the local politics, the practices and the daily representations of the local governance in Youwarou, a small town in the Inner Niger Delta (Mali). Because of the political shift of the 1990s caused by the decentralization of the Malian State, the introduction of the multipartism and the municipal elections widely promoted by Northern donors, the objective was to understand how the rules of the political game in this local arena were modified. This questions the organization, the articulation and the reconfiguration of local powers and traditional authorities over the time and so the construction, the preservation and the renewal of the contemporary political elites. In this context, this research integrates the impacts of the halieutic, pastoral and agricultural resources management of the Inner Niger Delta on the contemporary configuration of the local political arena of Youwarou.