From the editors "Seven months after Mali’s 2021 coup, the country’s military junta and the international community are at an impasse. This piece highlights the weaknesses of an approach by the international community that is on the one hand diplomatic, trying to nudge interim authorities into committing to an electoral timeline, and on the other hand punitive by imposing sanctions. Mali’s military transitional government – led by coup leader Assimi Goïta – displays much of the same."