The fragility of democracy in Africa: Are military coups d’état a never-ending issue?

Abstract

Some African countries have in recent times been experiencing military coups, with not less than seven occurrences between 2020 and 2023, an act considered not to be unconnected to the failure and fragility of democratic regimes. This study examined the factors responsible for the resurgence of military coups in Africa and the possible end to undemocratic regimes by applying secondary sources of data, including textbooks, journals, newspapers, and magazines. The findings of the study revealed that the failure of democratic regimes is a result of the sit-tight syndrome/mentality of African political elites, unmanageable security challenges, extractive political/economic institutions, the influence of external powers, corruption, and socio-economic disparity, and weak political institutions of African countries. The study concluded that although the only alternative to unseat or displace undemocratic civil rule, military regimes had never fared better, while some have performed even worse compared with the democratic regimes they successfully plotted against. As such, military rule should not be encouraged under any guise, and people should become more active in their democratic participation to ensure solid democratic institutions that can compel whoever is at the helm of governmental affairs to comply with the tenets of constitutional democracy dutifully.