Modern African states — instability and external involvement
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Question
What is a coup d'état?
Answer
A sudden, illegal seizure of power, usually by the military, that removes a government without an election.
Question
Give one clear example of ethnic tension causing conflict in this regional study.
Answer
Ethiopia: the Derg regime's and later the EPRDF's uneven treatment of ethnic groups (e.g. Tigrayans, Oromo, Amhara) fed resentment that fuelled civil war and, from 2020, the Tigray conflict.
Question
How did Somalia's clan system contribute to state collapse after 1991?
Answer
When Siad Barre's government fell in 1991, no national identity held rival clan militias together, so Somalia split into warring clan-based factions and had no effective central government for decades.
Question
What economic factor commonly triggered coups in this region?
Answer
Falling prices for a country's main export (e.g. Zambia's copper) collapsed government revenue, causing debt, austerity and public anger that undermined civilian rule.
Question
Give an example of environmental factors contributing to instability.
Answer
Recurring droughts in the Sahel (Niger) and Horn of Africa (Ethiopia, Somalia) destroyed farming and herding livelihoods, forcing migration and competition over land and water that fed conflict.
Question
What is meant by 'failure of civilian government' as a cause of coups?
Answer
Elected or civilian-led governments losing legitimacy through corruption, rigged elections, one-party rule or an inability to deliver basic services, making military takeover seem justified to some.
Question
Name Niger's most recent coup covered by this study and its stated justification.
Answer
The July 2023 coup against President Bazoum; the military cited insecurity from jihadist violence and worsening governance, though critics say it was about power, not just security.
Question
What is neocolonialism?
Answer
Continued economic or political control of a former colony by outside powers or companies, even after formal independence.
Question
How did Cold War rivalry destabilize Ethiopia and Somalia?
Answer
The USSR and USA switched sides in the 1970s (USSR to Ethiopia, USA to Somalia), each arming its client state, which fuelled the 1977–78 Ogaden War and left both countries flooded with weapons long after the war ended.
Question
What is the African Union's Constitutive Act stance on unconstitutional changes of government?
Answer
It commits the AU to suspend and condemn any member state where government is seized by unconstitutional means, such as a coup.
Question
Give one criticism of UN/international peacekeeping in this region.
Answer
In Somalia, the 1992–95 UNOSOM mission (including US-led UNITAF) failed to disarm militias and after the 1993 'Black Hawk Down' incident, troops withdrew, leaving the state still collapsed.
Question
Compare the AU's response to coups with its actual effectiveness.
Answer
The AU regularly suspends coup-hit states (e.g. Zimbabwe informally isolated over its politics, Niger suspended in 2023) but has limited power to reverse coups or enforce lasting change, showing a gap between principle and practice.
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Full study notes for Modern African states — instability and external involvement
Topic 10.12 hub
Modern developments in Ethiopia, Niger, Somalia, Tunisia, Zambia and Zimbabwe (c.1945–2020)
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