Africa’s Rampant ‘Coup d’ tats’: “Power Grabs” or a Reversal of Constitutional Democracy?

Abstract

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 theory – the collection of rich data on a topic of interest and to develop theories inductively; ethnography – researching into the military network to understand their cultures; action research - linking theory to practice to drive social change; phenomenological research – investigating a phenomenon or event by describing and interpreting participants’ lived experiences; and narrative research – examining 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.

Findings: 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.

Unique Contribution to Theory, Policy and Practice: 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.