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This article aims to show that the policy approaches which Niger and Mali have selected for integrating local communities into the state have produced different trajectories, which partly explain the contrasting situations in the two countries today. By institutionalising traditional chiefdoms, making them a core part of the state, Niger has integrated local communities better than Mali, where territorial administration plays a key role at the local level. In both countries, post-conflict decentralisation processes have served as a catalyst to resolve struggles for local power, while simultaneously encouraging new relationships with the state.