Abstract
Recently, the concept of “People power” has been the buzzword in Africa. The continent has seen a proliferation of mass protests, from those in Egypt to #FeesMustFall movement in South Africa, elections-related protests in Malawi to countrywide protests in Algeria. This chapter asserts that more often than not, citizens in African states have genuine reasons for conducting protests. Poor leadership, poor governance, corruption, poorly run elections are some of the grievances that spur citizens to protest. Incumbents have been quick to throw the “regime agenda” card, as part of rationalisation attempts for their brutal handling of these protests. Whether by design or not, some of these protests have resulted into coups. Despite a lull in coups on the African continent since 2000s, coups appear to be making a comeback as evidenced in Egypt in 2013, Burkina Faso in 2015, Zimbabwe in 2017, Sudan in 2019 and Mali in 2020. The trend suggests that while the heyday of military coups may have passed, they are certainly not entirely out of fashion and pose a clear and present danger to Africa’s governance and socioeconomic development, thus undermining the realisation of Agenda 2063. For the above reasons, this chapter suggests that African states must revisit their approach towards suppressing popular protests. It is argued that instead of suppressing or ignoring dissenting voices, governments need to understand and appreciate citizens’ grievances by engaging Civil Society Organisation and other stakeholders in meaningful and progressive dialogue. Preemptively, states need to critically analyse and address key underlying factors that lead to popular protests. It is proposed that African states must improve their governance systems and address any socioeconomic gaps and imbalances for and between their citizens to minimise discontent thereby suppressing popular protests and coup d’états.
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Notes
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- 28.
Mali is not a stranger to coups. Since gaining independence from France in 1960, it has experienced numerous coup plots, five coup attempts and four successful coups.
- 29.
Ncube, Mnthuli, et al., Economic Brief: Political Fragility in Africa: Are Military Coups d’Etat a Never-Ending Phenomenon? African Development Bank September (2012).
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Ibid.
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Majiga, P.B. (2022). The Proliferation of Popular Protests and Coups d’Etas in Africa. In: Kuwali, D. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Sustainable Peace and Security in Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82020-6_11
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