MORAL INVERSION AS A MODE OF AUTHORITARIAN GOVERNANCE: Theory, Measurement, and Empirical Evidence from the Sahel (2020–2025)[L'INVERSION MORALE COMME MODE DE GOUVERNEMENT AUTORITAIRE : Théorie, mesure et preuves empiriques à partir du Sahel (2020–2025)]

This article provides a theoretical and empirical analysis of a specific configuration of contemporary authoritarianism in which political falsehood becomes a morally stabilized norm of citizenship, rather than a merely strategic instrument. It develops the Theory of Moral Inversion of the State (TIME), according to which loyalty to the official narrative supersedes factual verification as a core civic criterion. The article introduces a non-teleological dynamic model — Authoritarianism–Resilience–Inversion (ARI) — describing how crisis is converted into a moral resource of legitimation, and proposes a Moral Inversion Index (IIM) to operationalize the cognitive, normative, emotional, and symbolic dimensions of this process. An empirical application to Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger (2020–2025) reveals differentiated yet convergent configurations of moral inversion capable of stabilizing power independently of material performance. The study contributes to comparative authoritarianism by conceptualizing morality as a central technology of governance.