Africa’s Fledgling Democratization Process Once More at the Crossroads: Continental Security and International Relations Implications

Abstract

Africa has had a chequered constitutional history, and current happenings have further dented the continent's democratic credentials as the military are forcefully terminating fledgling democracies. The consequences have been anything but damming, regarding the socio-politico-economic development of such countries and adjoining neighboring countries. Moreover, under the circumstances, continental security is once more under threat with dire international relations implications for countries that involve in constitutional interruptions. This work investigates the factors that account for the current upsurge of Coup D'états in some African countries and their impact on continental security. The study adopts a sequential exploratory mixed method approach involving 30 participants (qualitative) in Ghana and 433 respondents (quantitative) across the continent of Africa administered through goggle. The findings on the main showed that, bad governance among a mirage of factors such as economic challenges, have often precipitated violent coups in Africa. The paper argues that coups can be averted when constitutional leaders practice good governance and adhere to human rights, inter alia.