Religious actors, state- and regime-building in failing states

I am unhappy with the way that the following terms: 'state' and 'regime' are apparently understood in Comparative Politics approaches, especially those characterising 'traditional' US political science approaches. I argue that 'Comparative Politics' analysis is undermined when actors and political structures in individual countries do not conform to 'Western'-style 'political science.' A case in point is the west African country of Mali which has undergone a reduction, shrinkage and significant withdrawal of the state over the last three years - following an Islamist take over of power - and a concomitant rise of certain religious actors who now by default undertake many of the governance and welfare tasks usually associated with the state. Now, following the ousting from power of al-Qaeda-style Islamists in Mali and the failure of the state to resume its traditional leading role, the country is failing to establish a new ruling regime. This is because today Mali lacks clearly viable and authoritative centres and foci of power and legitimacy. Mali is 90+% Muslim but because the country follows the French tradition of laïcité - i.e. rigid separation of 'church' and state - and is a constitutionally secular country there is no clearly defined or workable conception of what role religious actors would/should take in the process of state- and regime-(re)building. The focus of my paper is to examine the concepts of 'state' and 'regime' in failing states such as (but not necessarily restricted only to) Mali, in order to highlight and comment on the apparent paucity of workable 'Western Comparative Politics' analytical tools in such cases. It is probable that I will compare and contrast the situation in Mali with that in one of the failing states in the MENA - perhaps Iraq or Yemen - which are similarly Muslim-majority, secular and failing to build viable states and regimes after conflict and, in addition, poorly understood by many Comparative Politics scholars.