Jihadi armed groups have been present and increasingly active in Mali since the late 1990s. In 2012, they became the unchallenged rulers of two-thirds of the territory, before eventually being driven out by international forces, after which they engaged in guerrilla warfare. In Mali, the use of violence by jihadis varied over time and across groups sharing territorial influence. This article studies the factors shaping norms of violence, as a way to identify the circumstances in which civilian agency, as well as restraint, is possible. Islamic rules of warfare, wartime imperatives, leadership or pressure from civilians are identified as prominent determinants of the use or non-use of violence. However, it would be wrong to assume that civilians are a uniform entity necessarily advocating restraint. ​

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