Political turmoil in Africa: examining coup d'etats from 2019 to 2023: Spatial Insights: Edition 11

Abstract

Africa has been among the world's most coup-prone regions for the past 60 years (Chin and Kirkpatrick, 2023). Coups are defined by Powell and Clayton (2011) as "illegal and overt attempts to unseat the sitting executive branch by the military or other elites within the state apparatus. Events such as coups and regime changes nearly always have the goal of altering a nation's fundamental institutional structure. A coup occurs when a faction, usually from the military or the political elite, tries to seize control using violent and illegal methods (Bennet et al., 2021). This spatial Insights focuses on coups from 2019 to 2023 because events within this timeframe are more likely to have direct implications for current political dynamics, regional stability and international relations.