This essay argues that the Independence Day's military parade in Mali has become a strategic site to negotiate fragile military and civil relations, and a repository to promote social change through the military experience. Drawing on field observations of the parade of the 50th anniversary of Independence in Bamako and the literature on political transitions, this essay demonstrates that military parades constitute meaningful sites for alternative engagements with democratic transitions. It examines the tactics and mechanisms deployed by the Malian national army to negotiate past human rights violations and authoritarian practices, as well as to seek the army's rehabilitation following the collapse of the military regime. By analysing military parades as a form and practice consolidating the ‘social contract’ between the army and the public after the political transition, this article contributes to the scholarship on transition and the study of military parades within the African continent.

中文翻译：

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马里阅兵：通过奇观了解马里政治

本文认为，独立日在马里的阅兵已成为谈判脆弱的军民关系的战略场所，以及通过军事经验促进社会变革的宝库。本文利用对巴马科独立 50 周年阅兵的实地观察和有关政治过渡的文献，表明阅兵是与民主过渡进行替代接触的有意义的场所。它研究了马里国民军为谈判过去的侵犯人权行为和专制做法以及在军政府垮台后寻求军队恢复所采用的策略和机制。