Emerging patterns of civil-military relations in africa: Radical coups d’etat and political stability

In the quarter century following World War II, military intervention in politics was a common occurrence. Well over two hundred coups d’etat and coup attempts were staged, affecting a substantial portion of independent developing countries. Looking at the political roles of armed forces in contemporary Africa, one is struck by a relatively new, unusual phenomenon, far removed from the heritages of colonial rule and the initial postindependence roles of the military south of the Sahara. The rarity of military-led revolution contrasts with the ubiquity of the coup d’etat as a means of removing governments. The possibility that military intervention would become characteristic of tropical Africa was, a score of years back, foreseen by few scholars; that such involvement would lead to the proclamation of Marxism-Leninism was envisaged by even fewer. Radical ideas have been introduced into African military-led states from two chief sources.