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| Title: | Transition and Democracy in Africa: New Dimensions to the Use of Force in Strategic Inter-African Policy |
| Author: | Danfulani, Shuaibu A. |
| Year: | 1993 |
| Periodical: | Indian Journal of African Studies |
| Volume: | 6 |
| Issue: | 2 |
| Period: | October |
| Pages: | 71-92 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | Africa |
| Subjects: | democracy civil-military relations Politics and Government Inter-African Relations Military, Defense and Arms |
| Abstract: | With the transition from dictatorship to democracy in the 1990s a new era of incertitude and instability has begun in Africa, one which has brought to the fore a negative use of military force capable of leading to the perpetuation of the old order of dictators, totalitarianism, coups and countercoups. The author examines the fundamentals of militarism and militarization in Africa, linking past and present developments to the question of transition and democracy. He notes the evolution of militarism as a consequence of the nature of the postcolonial State. The sociopolitical and economic difficulties of the postindependence State, the challenge of nationbuilding, and the nature of the Cold War climate all encouraged the militarization of politics in Africa. Militarism and militarization have become important determinants of the nature of the African polity. The author outlines the conceptual foundations and political implications of the military interregnum and the underlying reasons for the use of military force in intra-African politics. The crisis of governance in Africa is fundamentally a structural one, which because of the realities of civilian-military diarchy, has brought to the fore the problem of leadership shortcomings in Africa. Notes, ref. |