Read more
This book is intended for academics studying African politics, ethnic conflict, democratization, and civil-military relations. Focusing on the military, it contributes important mechanisms for understanding when and why ethnic groups rebel. Comparative case studies include Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, and Sierra Leone.
List of contents
Introduction; 1. Ethnicity, military patronage, and soldier rebellion; 2. Statistical tests: ethnic armies and the coup d'état; 3. Building ethnic armies: Cameroon and Sierra Leone; 4. Creating inclusive armies: Senegal and Ghana; 5. Dismantling ethnic armies: African militaries and democratization; Conclusion; Appendix A. Preindependence ethnic violence and ethnic politicization; Appendix B. Military coup data; Appendix C. Ethnicity and the military data; Appendix D. Supplementary material for regression analysis.
About the author
Kristen A. Harkness is a lecturer in International Relations at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. Her research has been published in Democratization, the Journal of Conflict Resolution, the Journal of Peace Research, the Journal of Strategic Studies, and Parameters. Her work on ethnicity and African militaries won the 2017 African Politics Conference Group Best Article Award and is currently being funded by the British Academy.
Summary
This book is intended for academics studying African politics, ethnic conflict, democratization, and civil-military relations. Focusing on the military, it contributes important mechanisms for understanding when and why ethnic groups rebel. Comparative case studies include Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, and Sierra Leone.
Foreword
Soldiers rebel when leaders attempt to build or dismantle ethnic armies, posing a deep challenge to contemporary democratization efforts.
