“Military Regimes: The Question of African Governance and Development”. My talk to the Pan-Afrikan Society via Zoom on February 25th 2022.

There have been a succession of military coups recently occurring in West Africa. Burkina Faso, Guinea and Mali have seen the installation of military regimes while an abortive coup took place in Guinea-Bissau.

I examined the wave of present-day coups and compared them with the many coups which took place in Africa during the post-independence era from the 1960s to the 1980s.

I explained why military coups have occurred and whether they can ever be helpful in birthing the conditions which would lead to a level of economic development and the creation of political institutions which would secure for African nations the sort of genuine independence which has eluded them.

Rationale for presentation:

An argument that Africans demand that their leaders pursue a course with the explicit objective of achieving two fundamental things:

1.Economic independence

2.Indigenised political institutions

This will guarantee not only Africa’s prosperity but will also ensure that its people will remain independent from de facto recolonisation by extra-continental powers.

© Adeyinka Makinde

Adeyinka Makinde is a writer based in London, England.