Description
In recent years, while the military power grabs are disappearing from the world, they have resurfaced in the African continent, becoming a key political concern in the 21st century. Between 2020 and 2025, there have been eight successful military coups in Africa alongside many failed and aborted attempts. African military establishments are reinstating their political role and undoing the progress made by the civil democratic governments. These coups are often attributed to the incomplete nature of the modernisation process, the growing social discontent and weak state legitimacy, which creates conditions for military intervention. In the post-colonial African societies, organisational management, historical prestige and perceived legitimacy of armed forces make them natural arbitrators in times of crisis. In return, the consolidation of political power in the hands of the military appears to be a bid to restore order and governance, justifying the coups in the 21st century.
Against this backdrop, the study examines the intersection of Modernisation Theory and Military Centrality Theory to explain the resurgence of coups. It analyses how neither the stalled modernisation process nor the military power alone can account for the resurgence of coups in Africa. The research will employ a comparative case study framework to analyse the recent coup d'etat in Mali, Guinea, Niger, Burkina Faso and Sudan. It will also use a mixed method approach by integrating qualitative analysis of political narratives and discourse and a quantitative analysis of socio-economic trends, military expenditure and government indices derived from official reports, academic databases and international surveys, to analyse how socio-economic discontent and institutional weaknesses contribute to coups. It will also study the military's historical role in political interventions and how the intersection between these two has shaped the changing nature of coups in Africa.
