Coups D' Etat In Africa

PAPER PROPOSAL

Coups d’ Etat in Africa

The capacity of the African Union to manage such situations

Democracy issues in Uganda and Sudan.

Countries of the African region have always been highly susceptible of coups plots. During the last decade these constituted the most frequent challenge to the continuity of the regimes. Additionally, political repression and economic inequality have worsened this situation.

Here, the role played by the African Union is determinant. To tackle this scourge of unconstitutional change of Governments, it has endowed several instruments: decisions, declarations and resolutions to prevent coups d’ Etat. However, their effects have not been the expected. According with the last determinations taken in the General Assembly, the AU resolute that it is required to refine, enrich and update the existent instruments, rather than elaborate new ones. However, some critics have stated the opposite. According to them, the policies implemented have not reduced the risks of the violations to the democratic standards. By contrary, they have had perverse effects: they have increased the risk of coups and the persistence and recurrence of unconstitutional changes.

In this paper I will study the existent instruments with the purpose to observe the effectiveness of their implementation. The purpose will be to determine if it is sufficient to change the policies to be implemented by refining and updating the current instruments, or if it is required, by contrary, to create new legislation to resolve this problem. In my perspective, both determinations have to be followed by an observation of the governments’ intentions: their plan to role by repression than by inclusion.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Index

Introduction

What coups d’ Etat are?

- Motivations

- Aid and resources

- Objectives

- Consequences

The situation in Africa

- Government, democracy and political inclusion

- Legitimacy and grievance of the African regimes

The role of the African Union

- AU instruments: decisions, declarations and resolutions adopted to prevent coups d’ Etat

- Policy implications

Conclusions

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