Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Palgrave Macmillan

African Military History and Politics

Coups and Ideological Incursions, 1900-Present

  • Book
  • © 2001

Overview

Authors:
  1. A. B. Assensoh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  2. Yvette M. Alex-Assensoh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this book

Log in via an institution
eBook USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

Licence this eBook for your library

Institutional subscriptions

Table of contents (8 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xxvi
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Africa’s Recent Colonial Past, 1900–1970

    • A. B. Assensoh, Yvette M. Alex-Assensoh
    Pages 1-45

  3. Africa’s Armed Forces in Retrospect: The History of the Colonial and Postcolonial Forces

    • A. B. Assensoh, Yvette M. Alex-Assensoh
    Pages 47-59

  4. Corrupt and Dictatorial Tendencies: The Tacit Invitation for Military Intervention

    • A. B. Assensoh, Yvette M. Alex-Assensoh
    Pages 61-79

  5. Military Leaders Turned Civilian Rulers

    • A. B. Assensoh, Yvette M. Alex-Assensoh
    Pages 81-98

  6. Military Presence in African Politics: Stability or Instability?

    • A. B. Assensoh, Yvette M. Alex-Assensoh
    Pages 99-126

  7. African Coups Galore: Foreign and Ideological Influences

    • A. B. Assensoh, Yvette M. Alex-Assensoh
    Pages 127-141

  8. African Coups in the Political and Theoretical Contexts

    • A. B. Assensoh, Yvette M. Alex-Assensoh
    Pages 143-167

  9. Conclusion

    • A. B. Assensoh, Yvette M. Alex-Assensoh
    Pages 169-182

  10. Back Matter

    Pages 183-217
    Download chapter PDF
Back to top

Keywords

About this book

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.

Reviews

a Runner-Up for the 2002 Cecil B. Currey Association of Third World Studies Book-Length Publication Award.

"Important . . . a reminder that military interventions in African politics are indeed still alive and well, but also that the interventions have a solid history across generations." - Ali A. Mazrui, Director, Institute of Global Cultural Studies, SUNY-Binghamton

"At a time in which there is a frantic search throughout the African continent for permanent strategies to keep the military out of politics, it is refreshing to have a volume such as this one that has carefully mapped out the tortuous road that the African military has forced the continent to traverse these past several decades. This volume is unique in the time period it covers (beginning prior to 1956 in order to trace the origins of the military presence in politics), its focus on the entire African continent, and its truly multidisciplinary approach - combining historical acuity with attention to political detail." - Pita Ogaba Agbese, Professor of Political Science at the University of Northern Iowa and Co-Director of the Ford Foundation Project on the Military Question in West Africa

About the authors

A. B. ASSENSOH is Associate Professor in the Afro-American Studies Department, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.

YVETTE ALEX-ASSENSOH is Assistant Professor in the Political Science Department, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.

Bibliographic Information

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Back to top

Search

Navigation