Unconstitutional changes of government in Africa: dilemmas for democratisation and peacebuilding

Abstract

One of the major governance challenges in Africa today relates to unconstitutional changes of government (UCGs), which have compromised democracy and fueled instability. This policy brief critically examines the African Union’s (AU) responses to UCGs across Africa. UCGs accentuate democratic backsliding in Africa, threatening peace, security, and stability at national, regional, and continental levels. At a national level, civil liberties and political rights are violated and the civic space is shrunk. At the regional level, interstate security is threatened. At the continental level, the AU’s expansive normative framework against UCGs is reduced to mere rhetoric the more the gulf widens between norm-setting and norm implementation.