Militocracy vs. Democracy in West Africa 1960s – 1990s

Book excerpt: This is a historical narrative and analysis of the unconstitutional changes of government in most West African countries where military rule became institutionalised more than in any other part of the continent from the sixties to the nineties. There is no specific reason why the region has suffered from usurpation of power by soldiers more than any other part of the continent, besides the desire by soldiers to rule, recently demonstrated by coups in Mali in 2020 and 2021, Guinea in 2021, and Burkina Faso in 2022. Governments in West Africa are no more unstable or weaker than their counterparts in other parts of the continent. Overthrowing governments became a continental phenomenon when military rulers went on to legitimise their their seizure of power through rigged elections by turning themselves into civilian rulers. They “civilianised” themselves, not only to claim that they were no longer military rulers but were democratically elected leaders; a manipulation of power that triggered counter-coups by their opponents to end their rule, resulting in many deaths in many countries where this violent change took place. Military rule in Africa started soon after independence in the sixties. The most ambitious goals in the postcolonial era were consolidation of the state and nation building with varying degrees of success in different parts of the continent. Military rulers proved to be no better than their civilian counterparts they had replaced. In most cases, they were even worse and used coercive power of the state to perpetuate themselves in office just as their civilian counterparts did. The result was consolidation of the state as an instrument of oppression, the most oppressive apparatus being the executive branch itself, invested with all the powers, which evolved into the imperial presidency, a phenomenon that persists in some African countries legitimised through rigged elections enabling leaders to remain in office under the guise of democracy “in the name of the people.”