Mali

The Sudanese Republic and Senegal became independent of France in 1960 as the Mali Federation. However Senegal withdrew after a few months, and the area formerly the Sudanese Republic was renamed Mali.

Dictatorial military rule under General Moussa Traore ended in 1991 through a military coup led by Amadou Toure, who became President only in 2002. President Alpha Konare won Mali's first democratic presidential election in 1992 and was reelected in 1997. In keeping with Mali's two-term constitutional limit, Konare stepped down in 2002 and was succeeded by Amadou Toure, who was subsequently elected to a second term in 2007.

On 22 March 2012 renegade Malian soldiers seized power. On 9 April President Toure officially resigned as part of an ECOWAS mediated settlement.

The post-coup chaos led to rebels expelling the Malian military from the north and Islamic militants setting up strongholds there. Northern Malians fled the violence to southern Mali and neighbouring countries. An international military intervention regained the north in early 2013. In a democratic presidential election conducted in July and August of 2013, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was elected president.

Mali has as civil law system based on the French civil law model and influenced by customary law. There is judicial review of legislative acts by the Constitutional Court.

Mali has a consitution dating from 1992.