Fragile Democracies and the Resurgence of Military Regime in Africa

Abstract

Post-colonial Africa is burdened with numerous innermost and outermost challenges. This paper argues that decades of dreadful democratic experience in Africa have rather reincarnated some sorts of discontent and rebellious confrontations in some states in Africa. This is exemplified in the recent military coups in Sudan, Ethiopia, Central African Republic, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger Republic, Gabon and the failed coups in Guinea Bissau and Gambia. The study obtains its data from secondary source materials employs the historical method of data analysis descriptive statistics and adopts frustration-aggression theory in explaining the contradictions that appeared to have stultified democracy in Africa which have denied the people the corresponding gains surrounding democratic practice. It concludes that ending the resurgence of military coups in Africa demands urgent steps to enthrone good governance in Africa's democratic states. The paper recommends the institutionalization of governance instead of the prevailing personalization of state institutions in Africa.