Abstract
At the wake of independence in several African countries in the 1960s, there was a high optimism on the emancipation of Africans from socio-economic and political crisis imposed upon the continent by the colonial powers. Despite the emergence of committed African leaders at the helm of affairs, post-independent state in Africa soon regressed economically, leading to the deterioration of social and economic conditions of the masses. The political instability that characterised most of the countries, including Togo, Ghana, and Nigeria, soon reversed the gains of political development. Interestingly, African leaders began to use brutal force for regime consolidation, with the plan to become lifetime political leaders. These contradictions accounted for the waves of military coups that hit Africa from the 1950s. Thus, this chapter unpacks a link between the nature of the African post-independent states and military interventions in politics. The chapter examines the nature of African post-colonial states and explores the link between state fragility and military coups, and critically reflects on the prevalence of coups and the question of legitimacy.
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Notes
- 1.
We adopt Kposowa and Jenkins’ (1993) understanding of military coups as the unauthorised takeover of the central executive of a government by either the regular armed forces or internal security forces using force or the threat of force. It is an irregular and non-legal seizure of power from civilian administration that have the legal status of rulership, including plots, attempts, and successful seizures of power.
- 2.
Nationalism refers to the “convergence of territorial and political loyalty irrespective of competing foci of affiliation, such as kinship, profession, religion, economic interest, race, or even language” (Haas, 1986, p. 709).
- 3.
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), an informal economy is composed of activities that have market value and however, they have not recorded for tax revenue and gross domestic product the reason for this in most African countries is that trading in the informal sector provides individuals with a safety net which the government is excluded from or they lack formal employment and are too poor to access public and financial services.
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Akinola, A., Makombe, R.C. (2024). The Nature of Post-Colonial African States and Military Coups: A Convergence. In: Akinola, A. (eds) The Resurgence of Military Coups and Democratic Relapse in Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-51019-9_3
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