African Military History and Politics

Coups and Ideological Incursions, 1900-Present

Y. Alex-Assensoh

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2002
• eBook ISBN:
  9780312292720
• Print ISBN:
  9780312238933
• Subtopic: African History

Africa's former colonial masters, including Great Britain; France, Portugal and Spain, trained members and leaders of the various colonial Armed Forces to be politically non-partisan. Yet, the modern-day Armed Forces on the continent, made up of the Army, Police, Air Force and Navy, have become so politicized that many countries in Africa are today ruled or have already been ruled by military dictators through coups d'etat, occasionally for good reasons as the book points out. This book traces the historical-cum-political evolution of these events, and what bodes for Africa, where the unending military incursions into partisan politics are concerned.

Table of contents

• Cover
• African Military History and Politics
• CONTENTS
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Foreword
• Introduction
• 1 Africa’s Recent Colonial Past, 1900–1970
• 2 Africa’s Armed Forces in Retrospect: The History of the Colonial and Postcolonial Forces
• 3 Corrupt and Dictatorial Tendencies: The Tacit Invitation for Military Intervention
• 4 Military Leaders Turned Civilian Rulers
• 5 Military Presence in African Politics: Stability or Instability?
• 6 African Coups Galore: Foreign and Ideological Influences
• 7 African Coups in the Political and Theoretical Contexts
• 8 Conclusion
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index
• About the Authors