The African Union as a norm entrepreneur on military coups d’état in Africa (1952–2012): an empirical assessment

Abstract

Between 1952 and 2012, there were a total of 88 successful military coups in Africa. Of those, 63 occurred prior to 1990, and 10 cases since the adoption, by the defunct Organization of African Unity (OAU), of the Lomé Declaration in July 2000, banning military coups and adopting sanctions against regimes born out of this. The article shows that the African Union (AU) has followed in the footsteps of the OAU in this regard. Assisted by some African regional organisations and international partners, the combined effect of this policy of the AU – assisted by other factors – has been a significant reduction in the occurrence of this phenomenon. While not constituting a funeral arrangement for military coups in the immediate future, these developments – if they were to continue – may indeed make this eventuality achievable in the long run. But the article also reveals some challenges the AU is facing in ensuring this.

Counterbalancing, Spatial Dependence, and Peer Group Effects

“…We found evidence for coup-proofing diffusion among experiential peers. In this context, consider the Organization of African Unity that was frequently referred to as “the dictators’ club.” Hence, this was not only a descriptive term used as a humorous name, but did indeed point to the high importance of this information network as an experiential peer group for African leaders’ survival (Souaré 2014).…”

East Africa after Liberation

“…26 Those studies which have sought to take a more politico-social approach have focused primarily on institutional norm entrepreneurship rather than on the interaction between regional security elites and those of the AU or of regional security organisations. 27 For East African states during the 1990s, however, the AU and regional security mechanismsincluding, to a significant degree, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD)remained of largely peripheral significance in the negotiation of regional relationships. Instead, bilateralism and informal alliances between often deeply enmeshed national elites represented the primary manner in which international relations were conducted.…”

Taking Intervention Politics Seriously: Media Debates and the Contestation of African Regional Interventions ‘from Below’

“…With this article, we seek to make a first contribution to filling this lacuna by presenting findings from an analysis of media debates on regional interventions in response to political crises in Burkina Faso (2014/15) and The Gambia (2016/17). 1 In both cases, the regional intervention was led by the African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), based on the organizations' normative frameworks against unconstitutional changes of government (see generally Souaré 2014). So far, the majority of African regional interventions have taken place in response to such situations.…”