Populist Military Regimes in West Africa

摘要

Populism is not new in Africa. Attacks on established institutions and corruption, expressions of puritanism and the need for moral redemption have occurred prior to the populist coups carried out in Ghana in 1979 and 1981, Liberia in 1980 and Upper Volta in 1983. The emphasis on individual leadership and on direct ties between leader and people have occurred also. Nor are coups led by junior officers or noncommissioned officers new. However, the recent West African coups were ushered in with violence, were frontal assaults on established regimes and institutions, and do have features which are unusual in Africa.