Masked Scripts of African Coups

Tweheyo, Charles, 2023

As regional integration is claiming a lion’s share on the continent’s political and economic development agenda in Africa, old challenges are exacerbating the democratic deficiencies. While the continent is striving to locate its position in the post-colonial global development, military coups are generating new pressure on constitutionalism and democratic governance in Africa. This paper’s shares a perspective on the escalation of military coups in West Africa. It points out several reasons categorised into two; intrastate inefficiencies and external difficulties. In the intrastate reasons, the paper explains how societal economic difficulties, class conflicts, military mismanagement, limited military professionalism fuel military coups and in the external relations, the paper explores the role of weakness of regional organs that avail an ideal condition for the escalation of unconstitutional regime changes.

Jurnal Politik indonesia (Indonesian Journal of Politics), 2024

Since the late 1980s, with no choice, there has been a strong wave of democracy and democratization in the continent with most of African countries beginning to move away from one-party or military dictatorships to multiparty democratic rule. There have been coup d'états on the African continent since the 1960s. However, the aim of this research is to examine the recent resurgence and growth of coups which is contrary to the consolidation and stability of democracy in Africa. It seeks to present the main trajectory of military coup d' etats in sub-Saharan Africa focusing on its implication to democratic stability in the region. To achieve this, researchers engage a qualitative research method with in-depth assessment of coups and their impact on the growth in sub-Saharan Africa. The results of this research show that recent military takeovers have brought attention to a troubling trend in African politics: a rise in the use of unconstitutional methods to change governments. Military coups are to certain extent direct responses to citizens' complaints considering bad governance, deteriorating citizens' living conditions, and rising levels of insecurity. This research, therefore, concludes that military coups expose sub-Saharan African to human rights violations. Due to these unpleasant conditions of sub-Saharan polity, men in uniform align to the view that it is through coups that they can oust out this civilian governments that have mutilated constitutions to allow them to rule their countries without term limit.

This paper examined the political undercurrents of the re-emergence of military intervention in African politics. The objective of this paper is to ascertain the theoretical and empirical connection of this emerging phenomenon. Situated within the context of political modernization philosophy, we posit that the military appropriated its central command structure, differentiation, and specialization as well as popular identification in diverse ways as part of their strategies to control political power. Empirically, we draw mainly on textual data collected through remote research methods such as desk research and distant observation. The analysis is informed by the emerging political analysis of recent military coup d'état epidemics across Africa-Chad, Sudan, Mali, Guinea, and Burkina Faso. The main focus of our analysis is the supposition that, Africa's emerging democracy is under threat to fluff and flounder. This paper argues that stakeholders in a democracy need to act proactively to structurally address the putative democratic deficits that are eroding the dividends of democracy and its cardinal principles in Africa.

Reseach Gate, 2022

Overall, Africa has experienced more coups than any other continent and now making a comeback in West and Central Africa military takeovers in Mali, Chad, Burkina and Guinea, by US Army trained officers as well as further east in Sudan. An attempt was just foiled in Guinea-Bissau (2/2/2022). Millions of refugees and IDPs, proportionately the largest number in developing countries are in Africa. The forces of lawlessness, mercenaries, petty arms traders, narco-traffickers and smugglers have descended on African countries in conflict, fanning the flames of war, and profiteering from the destruction of the lives of children. The state-sponsored plunder of colonialism has been replaced by the privatisation of plunder and exploitation! The inquiry focuses on the history of unconstitutional change of government in Africa and the requisite foundations for the implementation of the ACDEG? The multiple coups d’états have led to growing regional instability. Overthrowing the ‘elected’ government opened up a power vacuum that violent extremist groups exploited. All coup d’états were preceded by months of nonviolent protests by civil society, which, had led to democratic, but fleeting, change. Regional efforts to stabilise African countries have focused too much on security, neglecting decades of state failure. The regional bodies in Africa have tried to intervene between protesters and governments, but these crises have exposed the challenge of fostering democratic norms beyond elections. Africans demand for change remains far from fulfilled, whose current leaders remain a symbol of corruption and inaction, of ongoing instability, and of the lack of human development and failures of governance that has led to huge losses of life leading to disenchantment and objective conditions for coups. Armies cannot carry out a coup without popular discontent. Coups can be prevented by altering incentives as the networks that typically support coups are usually based on bonds of ethnicity and patronage ties that rise above loyalty to a fragile state. Key word: coup d’état, malgovernance, poverty, unemployment, corruption, democracy, The objectives of the ACDEG Charter are to promote adherence, by each State Party, to the universal values and principles of democracy, respect for human rights, and the rule of law premised upon the respect for, and the supremacy of, the Constitution and holding of regular free and fair elections and institutionalise legitimate authority of representative governments. ACDEG, 2000

West Africa And The Recurrence Of Coups, 2022

Following the attainment of independence by African States, fostering intra-continental trade, regional unity and cooperation became a common aim of these infant States. The main motive of regional integration in West Africa was pinned at enhancing collective security, promoting trade and protecting the sovereignty of member States collectively. In light of the treaty of ECOWAS, the bloc was formulated on the need to encourage, foster and accelerate socioeconomic develop of all members affiliated to the organization in order to improve the living standard of nationalities member to the regional bloc. Basing on a similar premise, the ECOWAS was formulated as a common pool for collectively addressing political, social and economic challenges of the day and those to emerge in the future. The post-colonial Africa witnessed relaxation of trade tariffs, in favor of regional trade liberalization amongst Western African States. It is however, tragic to apprehend that owing to illicit governance, characterized by monopolization of power and unfair allocation of resources, the region has seen a surge in unprecedented usurpation of power, having states such as Mali, Burkina Faso and Nigeria recording well over seven coups each between 1950 and 2022. Illustrating the dearth of coups and the region, the West African region has been home to over twenty coups both successful and failed since 2010. Basing on interdependence theory, the researcher used mixed methods to assess the causes and impacts of unconstitutional change of government in the region placing significant focus on Mali. In order to account for the recurrence of coups, the research used documentary search to establish the coup-proofing mechanism in the region as well as assess the utility of such means. The research established that, interference by former colonial masters, military centrality, inept governance, grave poverty and high unemployment, and intensified activities of terrorists (in the case of Mali, the Taureg rebels) are some of major causes of coups in the region. The research has established that though there is existence of legal frameworks that champions coup-proofing mechanisms such as economic sanctions, name and shaming, suspension of the noncompliant member state amongst an array of other, such techniques have failed to deter the conspirators. Hence the research proffered pro-democratization recommendations to address social injustices which are the root causes of unconstitutional change of government in the region.

International journal of conflict management, 2024

Purpose: Since the year 2021, sub-Saharan Africa has been revisiting a decade-old problem: a flare of military coup d'états in close proximity to each other. These occurrences are happening in parallel to four broad trends in the study of international relations: first, is the surge of foreign interest in Africa, dubbed the 'New Scramble for Africa' for mineral resources and influence; second, is the democratic 'deficit' in sub-Saharan Africa occasioned by weak democratic institutions and civil society; third, is the negative impacts of globalization on Africa; and fourth, is the 'new and crocket ways' of overturning or extending constitutionally-mandated presidential term limits. Is Africa witnessing the emergence of "Latter Days Saints" to save the masses? Or are these coups "power grabs" conducted by unscrupulous criminals disguised as soldiers? Methodology: This research employs a qualitative approach involving the collecting and analysing of non-numerical data (e.g., text, video, or audio) to understand concepts, opinions, or experiences of military takeovers. The common approaches used include grounded theorythe collection of rich data on a topic of interest and to develop theories inductively; ethnographyresearching into the military network to understand their cultures; action research -linking theory to practice to drive social change; phenomenological researchinvestigating a phenomenon or event by describing and interpreting participants' lived experiences; and narrative researchexamining how stories are told to understand how participants perceive and make sense of their experiences. Even though these approaches share some similarities, they emphasize different aims and perspectives. The findings in this study are that the motivation for 'old coups' in Africa are present in national politics today. The assessment from the article details how foreign powers use 'coup de 'tats' as new ways of illegally 'grabbing' Africa's resources. China's strategy in Africa is about its commercial interests rather than political interference in the domestic politics of African countries. But China is heavily involved in the new scramble for Africa because it seeks for reliable sources of oil supply because of its growing domestic consumption and not to politically malign anyone; manipulate local politicians or interrupt in the internal affairs of African countries. Indeed, the 'real scramblers' in Africa for mineral resources are France, Russia, Britain and the Unites States of America; whose energy resource-bases are depleting, but still make huge profits at the expense of developing countries, particularly in Africa. This study offer qualitative insights of how the scramble for mineral resources in Africa will continue to disrupt democratic governance in Africa. Of particular importance, is the 'new and crocket ways' by politicians to loot national coffers of their countries by overturning or extending constitutionally-mandated presidential term limits, as well as the use of coup d' tats by rogue military officers to overthrow constitutional elected governments in Africa.

Journal of Contemporary International Relations and Diplomacy

Post-colonial Africa is fraught with myriads of endogenous and exogenous challenges. This paper argues that decades of deplorable democratic experience in Africa have rather reincarnated some sorts of discontents and rebellious confrontation in some states in Africa. This is exemplified in the recent military coups in Sudan, Ethiopia, Central African Republic, Mali, Burkina Faso and the failed coups in Guinea Bissau and Gambia. The study utilizes documentary methods of data collection and adopts frustration-aggression theory in explaining the contradictions that appeared to have stultified democracy in Africa which apparently have denied the people the corresponding gains embedded in democratic practice. It concludes that ending the resurgence of military coups in Africa demands urgent steps to enthrone good governance in Africa’s democratic states. The paper recommends the institutionalization of governance in lieu of the prevailing personalization of state institutions in Africa.

Recent years have seen African militaries attempt coups in virtually every geographic region, from Egypt to Lesotho and Guinea to Madagascar. They have targeted established democracies, infantile democratic experiments, increasingly authoritarian executives, power vacuums brought on by leader death, and—most recently in Burundi—leaders attempting to circumvent constitutional limitations on their tenure. These continuing acts perpetrated against regimes with such varied backdrops suggests that coups still afflict a wide range of states and remain a continuing threat to constitutional rule. This is in contrast to the African Union’s emphasis on curbing the practice. This paper explores the African Union’s effectiveness to combat military coups, primarily focusing on the potential for sanctions to act as a deterrent to would-be coup plotters. The paper also considers potential limitations on the AU’s ability to project power against certain states. Analyses for the years 1950-2014 indicate Africa has in fact witnessed a meaningful decline in coup activity, an impact even more pronounced than the end of the Cold War. Results also indicate that the AU’s effectiveness in deterring coups is not constrained in cases where they are expected to lack leverage.

REVISITING DEMOCRACY AS A RIGHT PROTECTED BY INTERNATIONAL LAW: CHALLENGES BROUGHT BY AFRICAN MILITARY COUPS, 2023

In Africa, democracy is the meeting of two streams of traditions: one from Western countries, the other specifically African. Since the 1990s, all the states on this continent have established a pluralist electoral process with competition between candidates, with the exception of Eritrea. However, this era again witnessed more coups than before. The groups responsible for the coups quickly occupied the centers of command, decision-making, and administration, replacing the previous chief executives and the most senior officials with people of their choice. They ended up controlling the entire state's authority. Despite the size of the continent and the multiplicity of situations, the reality remains the same in Africa. Until today, coups are still happening. The principal aim of international law is to sustain global peace between countries. However, this peace cannot be reached when international law is indifferent to the domestic peace of members of the international community, regardless of the origin of the threat. The aim of this research is to analyze whether there is an obligation under the international law to be democratic and whether military coups, especially the recent African coups, can establish an obligation under international law. In this way, this study will combine analytical and doctrinal methods, focusing on the hypothesis that there is a responsibility to be democratic and that failure to respect this obligation through the dismissal of a democratically elected government creates international obligations.