No 12, Issue 1       

Interrogating the Contagious Effects of Military Rule/Regime in West Africa A Retrospective Comparative Analysis of Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso Conundrum in the Past Three Years

Mustapha A. HARUNA | A. T.  AYEGBUSI | Muhammad Saheed SULAIMAN

Pages: 53-74

Abstract.

This paper examines the recent surge of military coups in West Africa, which threatens the region’s democratic principles. These coups have spread across countries like Chad, leading to the suspension of elected governments. The study conducts a comparative analysis to explore the underlying issues of these military interventions. Although the rise of constitutionalism and popular democracy suggested that military rule was outdated, recent events in Myanmar, Sudan, Zimbabwe, and Chad indicate otherwise. Key factors contributing to these coups include corruption, inefficiency of the political class, electoral malpractice, dictatorial leadership, ethnicism, nepotism, and socio-economic crises. The study suggests solutions such as promoting good governance, addressing economic and social defects with regional and global support, ensuring resolute regional bodies against coups, supporting international measures to punish coupists, and resisting external interference in African affairs. The paper relies on secondary data and employs the coups contagion theory as its analytical framework.

Keywords.

Civil-Military relations; Coup d’etat; military adventurism; military intervention; professionalism.

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