Conference: Militarization, Coups and the Crisis of Constitutionalism in Africa – Democratic Regression and Constitutional Resilience

Until recently not a prominent topic in comparative constitutional scholarship, the role of the military is attracting more and more attention. Melissa Crouch for example has even argued for a “military turn in comparative constitutional law”, observing however that “at present, legal scholarship on constitutionalism in Africa makes little mention of the military” (Annual Review of Law and Social Science 2024, at p. 59). 

The observation is surprising considering that direct and indirect involvement of the military in politics today presents a serious challenge to constitutional democracy in Africa. African militaries have, at various times, purported to act as arbiters of political crises, guardians of the state, protectors of democracy, and agents of modernisation. However, their involvement in politics has often undermined democratic processes, prompting scholars to advocate for military disengagement from politics to facilitate democratic transition and consolidation.

The relationship between civilian governments and the military in Africa has undergone significant transformations amidst a backdrop of militarisation and military coups, influenced by a range of historical, political, socio-economic, and institutional factors. Historically, military involvement in politics can be traced to the colonial era, when they were used by the colonialists to maintain law and order as well as protect the economic interests of the colonialists. This militarisation of internal security laid the groundwork for post-colonial military interventions, as newly independent nations inherited militarised states, resulting in the politicisation of African armies and a focus on internal security.

Since independence, military involvement in politics has created significant obstacles to constitutional democracy in Africa. The late 1980s and 1990s ushered in a wave of democratisation across Africa, leading many countries to transition from military rule to democracy under new or revised constitutions, some of which contain provisions that tried to regulate civil-military relations, although the scope and content vary significantly from one constitution to another. The wave of democratisation and efforts to regulate civil-military relations contributed to a decrease in military coups compared to earlier decades, military incursions into politics have persisted in post-1990s Africa. There is now a shift from traditional hard military coups, characterised by violent power grabs, to “soft coups,” in which the military collaborates with politicians or leverages popular protests to share power. This transition has led to a politicised military that has effectively militarised political power, gaining legitimacy through electoral processes. In many autocratic regimes, the military remains the main actor for regime survival. Africa’s vulnerability to militarisation and coups is further exacerbated by weak civil societies that struggle to effectively challenge military actions. In some instances, as was recently the case in Burkina Faso, Guinea and Niger, segments of civil society have even supported military interventions, undermining efforts to promote democratic governance and reinforcing military influence in political affairs. The most recent coups in Madagascar and Guinea-Bissau, and the “civilianisation” of the coup makers in Gabon and Guinea, and the “self-coup” in Tunisia, underscore the need to counter the increasing threats to Africa’s faltering democratic revival.

The purpose of the project is to analyse and better understand the impact of the military’s involvement in politics on constitutionalism in Africa by bringing together experts in a writing and publishing workshop. Under the theme “Militarisation, Coups and the Crisis of Constitutionalism in Africa: Governance and Democratic Erosion”, a group of 20 participants from across Africa and beyond will develop and present papers on different sub-themes:

• Unconstitutional Seizures of Power and the Evolution of Anti-Coup Norms
• Militarisation Beyond Coups: The Expansion of Military Influence in Civilian Governance 
• Constitutional Design and Military Power: Entrenchment, Ambiguity and Loopholes
• Judicial Responses to Coups and Militarised Governance
• Constitutional Amendments, Term Limits and “Soft Coups”
• The Military, Natural Resources and Political Economy of Power
• Emergency Powers, Security Governance and Constitutional Erosion
• Regional and International Responses to Coups and Militarisation
• Popular Resistance, Civil Society and Constitutional Resilience
• Pathways to Reconstitutionalisation: Transitions from Military Rule
• Rethinking Constitutionalism in Contexts of Militarisation

After the conference, participants will be invited to revise their drafts. Following an blind review process, a selection of papers will be compiled to form an edited volume which could eventually be published as part of the Stellenbosch Handbooks in African Constitutional Law series of Oxford University Press, the leading authority in the field of comparative constitutional law in Africa.

This conference is hosted by the Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa (MIASA) at the University of Ghana, and organized in collaboration with the Konrad Adenauer Foundation Abidjan, the Institute for International and Comparative Law in Africa (ICLA), University of Pretoria, South Africa, and the RefLex Centre for Advanced Studies, Faculty of Law, Humboldt-University Berlin, Germany. It is funded by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation Abidjan.