African Democratization and Military Coups

Onwumechili provides an exciting perspective on African military coups and reminds us that democracy is not synonymous solely with Western societies. He examines democracies in traditional Africa and shows how these socieites clearly defined and limited the roles of traditional African armies.

From this background, Onwumechili makes readers appreciate that modern African armies are deviant institutions, with no roots in traditional Africa. Rather, he argues, one has to seek those roots in Africa's recent, colonial history. Dr. Onwumechili goes on to describe the reasons for coups and their tactics. Finally, he examines how military coups can be prevented. While previous solutions have largely failed, Onwumechili provides convincing solutions based on case studies.

List of contents

Foreword
Preface
Traditional African Democracies
Western Democracy and Democratic Consolidation in Africa
Reasons For and History of Military Coups
Military Threat to Deomocratization
Solutions to the Military Threat
Case Studies and OAU's Role
Bibliography
Index

About the author

CHUKA ONWUMECHILI is Associate Professor in the School of Arts and Sciences at Bowie State University. His research interests focus on military and development issues in Africa. Dr. Onwumechili has presented numerous papers on military coups in Africa and was an invited panelist at the 1997 Sierra Leone Peace Conference organized by Sierra Leone's prodemocracy movements.

Product details

• Authors: Chuka Onwumechili, Onwumechili Chuka
• Publisher: Bloomsbury
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 30.10.1998
• EAN: 9780275963255
• ISBN: 978-0-275-96325-5
• Subjects: Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Process / General, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Ideologies / General, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Ideologies / Democracy, Africa, POLITICAL SCIENCE / World / African, Political structures: democracy, Revolutions, uprisings, rebellions, Revolutionary groups & movements, Revolutionary groups and movements, HISTORY / Revolutions, Uprisings & Rebellions, Politics, Law, and Government: Comparative Politics