The Coup Wave: Unraveling the Roots of Military Coups in Africa

By Diana Rangaves, Pharm D

The West African and Sahel regions have been plagued by a wave of military coups in recent years, with countries like Mali, Niger, Guinea, Burkina Faso, and Guinea Bissau all experiencing destabilizing political upheavals. These coups have raised concerns about the fragile state of democracy in the region and the underlying reasons behind such incidents. This article aims to delve into the roots of military coups in Africa, analyzing the political, socioeconomic, and historical factors that contribute to this recurring phenomenon.

The specter of military takeovers and unlawful power grabs on the African continent is once more rearing its ugly head. Niger, Mali, Chad, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, and Sudan are just a handful of the West and Central African nations that have seen successful and unsuccessful coup d’états in recent years. Despite imposing sanctions, suspending memberships, and denouncing this alarming trend, international and regional organizations like the United Nations (UN), the Economic Community of West African States, and the African Union (AU) have not been able to stop the wave of military coups in the region.

For decades, coups have been a conspicuous and recurring feature of African political life. Throughout the post-colonial period, military coups occurred in various sections of the African continent, from east to west and north to south. This movement was represented in a series of coups, particularly between the mid-1960s and the late 1980s. The primary arguments for coups were allegations of poverty, mismanagement, and widespread corruption.

By the decade of the 2000s, the wave of democracy and the reintroduction of multiparty politics in certain African countries created the impression that the military was relinquishing its control over Africa’s political affairs. Despite gains on this front, military coups and takeovers continue to pose a significant danger to the continent’s peace and stability.

The Military as a Political Tool

The military is the major institution among state coercive apparatuses that maintains the state’s monopoly capacity for violence; its mandate is to preserve the nation-state against external and internal attack. During inter-state wars or domestic insurgencies, the military’s importance is highlighted. This means that the military’s principal role becomes prominent during war, whether between opposing political bodies or nations.

As a result, the ruling class has utilized the military as a political tool to impose whatever they see fit in their domestic or foreign interests. In another aspect, the military sometimes goes after the pinnacle of political power by seizing complete control of states with guns, just as democratically elected political units do through democratic processes outlined in constitutions.

War is a political activity that occurs when politics reaches a point where normal channels between classes, nations, states, or political groups cannot resolve it. Several supporting variables must be present for a military to be seduced into playing a political role, according to experience from African coups. The military may play a political role if:

1. There is a flagrant contempt for democratic constitutional values, with the political class openly disregarding the people’s will and frequently resorting to violence to repress it. Corruption and embezzlement are used to ensure a sense of contentment among all parties involved to establish understanding between the military and political elite.
2. The leaders’ popularity will remain fragile if they entirely disregard the people, despite the employment of propaganda in many cases to present the leader as revered by their subjects. In this scenario, the military or groups within the military will know that they wield tremendous influence, like the leader in the issue.
3. There is the opportunity aspect, which includes both material and conditional aspects. The group’s resources and assistance make up its material opportunities. Constrained opportunities consider local limitations, such as a lack of or poor governance structures, security, and economic situations. What matters is that external as well as internal influences can have an impact on these variables.

Foreign interference

It is vital to note that Africa’s independence occurred amid Cold War politics. Global powers were interested in building satellite states and expanding their global influence. Despite the conclusion of the Cold War and the apparent globalization of democracy, the role of foreign powers in Africa’s military coups remains prominent.

Even during the ‘wind of change,’ which resulted in most African states achieving independence by constitutional means and military resistance, many politico-bureaucratic elites maintained colonial state structures, institutions, and mindsets bequeathed from the past.

With a few outliers of progressive African leaders questioning inherited state structures and institutions, most politico-bureaucratic elites ignored the complexities of societies within their borders. They maintained centralized administrations with executive power, initially through single-party dictatorship and then through multiparty systems that frequently benefited political elites and foreign nations at the expense of the population.

Numerous foreign military bases are created in Africa, most of which are operated by the United States, France, the United Kingdom, and China. It is worth noting that most of the coups reported in West Africa occurred in former French territories. This raises concerns regarding the transition of former colonies into sovereign states, the continuing involvement of former colonizers, and the impact on the political atmosphere of West African governments.

Furthermore, there is an increasing presence of foreign military and private corporations engaged in various operations. This scenario, combined with continuous economic subordination that has prevented the bulk of Africans from benefiting from available resources, has fostered frustration among Africans within their states. In this scenario, among other things, a possibility has arisen for military and other security forces to seize the opportunity to achieve the pinnacle of political power.

This has been the case in Burkina Faso and Mali, where people increasingly see Russia as a superior alternative to France, posing significant challenges to regional security. The Wagner Group, a Russia-owned private security organization, has been prominent in conflict-ridden West African states to advance the Kremlin’s objectives.

Wrap-up

In response to the current wave of coups in West Africa, international observers should evaluate the differences in the political history of the region’s constituent governments. Various circumstances explain why coups are taking place in Niger, Mali, Guinea, and Burkina Faso and may continue in the future. However, West Africa includes countries that have avoided or broken the coup cycle. The stories of those states show that the damage imposed by coups, no matter how powerful, is not permanent.