The Ethnic Army and the State
Explaining Coup Traps and the Difficulties of Democratization in Africa
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6284598 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kristen A Harkne (0000-0001-5882-3745, University of St Andrews, corresponding author), Kristen A Harkness (School of International Relations, University of St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland, UK) |
| Year | 2016 |
| Volume | 60 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 587-616 |
| Publication date | 2016-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Conflict Resolution (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-0027 • E-ISSN: 1552-8766 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0022002714545332 |
| OpenAlex | W2329062849 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 83 |
| References cited | 53 |
Military coups have posed a persistent threat to political stability in Africa, undermining democratization efforts, igniting insurgencies, and leading to years of devastating military governance. Initial cross-national studies found little consistent evidence linking ethnicity to coups, leading recent formal and statistical work on coup risk and coup-proofing to largely ignore ethnic politics. This article, however, argues that in two important contexts of African political development—decolonization and democratization—ethnic politics are critical to understanding the occurrence of coups. Both case study evidence and statistical analysis of original data on African military history and ethnic politics reveal that practices of ethnic manipulation within security institutions have driven coup attempts. When leaders attempt to build ethnic armies, or dismantle those created by their predecessors, they provoke violent resistance from military officers
Corporate governance · Decolonization · Democracy · Democratization · Development economics · Economics · Ethnic group · Ethnic violence · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science · Law · Peacebuilding and International Security · Political Conflict and Governance · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East
Breaking bonds, building mistrust
Regime Threats and State Solutions
Coup d’état in West Africa
Elite mobilisation and ethnic conflicts
The effects of coups d’état on journalists
How Dictatorships Work
A Critical Appraisal of the Tragedies of Military Coups and Political Instability in Guinea (1984-2021)
African coups in the Covid-19 era
Tenure through Tyranny? Repression, Dissent, and Leader Removal in Africa and Latin America, 1990–2006
Foreign Legionnaires and Military Mutinies
Oil Wealth, Risk Acceptance, and the Seizure of Power
Naval Forces and Civil-Military Relations
The Efficacy of Ethnic Stacking
Executive turnovers in sub-Saharan Africa
Leadership and Military Effectiveness
Africa's Vicious Triad
Persistence of informal networks and liberal peace-building
Interrogating Ethnic Stacking
Elite Bargains and External Influence
Deterring threats and settling scores
Bread, butter, barricade
The Security-Force Ethnicity (SFE) Project
Authoritarian regimes and civil–military relations
The Ethnic Stacking in Africa Dataset
Patronage and authoritarian co-optation of the military
Coup-Proofing and Military Inefficiencies
The colonial roots of structural coup-proofing
Dictators, personalized security forces, and coups
Bargaining without guns
Anarchy’s anatomy
If You’ll Be My Bodyguard
When to expect a coup d’état? An extreme bounds analysis of coup determinants
Today they are going to kill us”
Coups
Targeted Sanctions Against Authoritarian Elites
From Bullets to Balance Sheets
Putting the Civilian Back in Civil–Military Relations
Elite Threats and Punitive Violence in Autocratic Regimes
Virtuous Shirking and Social Distance
Ethnic Heterogeneity and Coup Vulnerability in the Early 21st Century
The Durability of Client Regimes
No Easy Way Out
The Perils of Peace
Vigilantes and the State
Political militaries in popular uprisings
Civil–Military Relations and Civil War Recurrence
State breakdown and Army-Splinter Rebellions
Civil-Military Relations and Domestic Terrorism
State Security or Exploitation
The Ties That Bind
Preventing Coups d’état
Genocide, Politicide, and the Prospects of Democratization since 1900
Self-Reinforcing Civilian Control
How to Keep Officers in the Barracks
Coup-Proofing in the Shadow of Intervention
Self-Enforcing Power Sharing in Weak States
Midwives or gravediggers of democracy? The military’s impact on democratic development
The dictator’s legionnaires
A question of trust
Military loyalty and the failure of democratization in Africa
Give them toys? Military allocations and regime stability in transitional democracies
Authoritarian armies and democratizing states
Colonial Education, Political Elites, and Regional Political Inequality in Africa
Ethnicity and Policing in the Global South
Reshaping the Threat Environment
La surveillance
Integrating the Civil–Military Relations Subfield
Why Underachievers Dominate Secret Police Organizations
The Strategic Shuffle
Can Student Body Diversity Foster Inter-ethnic Trust, Tolerance, and National Identification Prioritization? The Role of Friendship in Kenya
Military Aid, Regime Vulnerability and the Escalation of Political Violence
Grist to the mill of subversion
Strongmen politics and unconstitutional changes of government in West Africa
Surviving revolution and democratisation
Ethnic inequality and coups in sub-Saharan Africa
Commander-community ties after civil war
Don't turn around, der Kommissar's in town
When human capital threatens the Capitol
Purging militaries
Reframing the Guardianship Dilemma
Unpacking 'Stacking
Rethinking Coup Risk
Rethinking the Resurgence of Military Coups in Africa
Ethnic soldiers
Citizens, Autocrats, and Plotters
Political instability and economic growth
Fractionalization
States and Power in Africa: Comparative Lessons in Authority and Control
Erosion of the Rule of Law as a Contributing Factor in Civil Conflict
The Foundations of Ethnic Politics
Ethnic and Cultural Diversity by Country
Institutions and Ethnic Politics in Africa
Coup-Proofing and Military Effectiveness in Interstate Wars, 1967–99
The Military Uses of Ethnicity
Colonial Conscripts
Civil-Military Relations in Sierra Leone
Technology, civil‐military relations, and warfare in the developing world
Democratic Experiments in Africa
Natural Resources, Conflict, and Conflict Resolution
Ethnicity and army recruitment in colonial plural societies
Ethnic groups in conflict
Poverty, the Coup Trap, and the Seizure of Executive Power
What Makes Democracies Endure
The Decline of the African Military Coup
Toward a Structural Understanding of Coup Risk
Determinants of the Attempting and Outcome of Coups d’état
The Political Origins of African Military Coups
Ethnicity and Leadership Succession in Africa
Does Democratization Reduce the Risk of Military Interventions in Politics in Africa
Measuring the Effect of “Ethnicity
Measuring Ethnic Fractionalization in Africa
A Probabilistic Approach to the Causes of Coups d'Etat
The Institutional Origins of Ethnic Violence
Sierra Leone Politics Since Independence
The Enemy Within
Why Do Ethnic Groups Rebel? New Data and Analysis
Global instances of coups from 1950 to 2010
Ethnic Politics and Armed Conflict
African military coups d'état, 1956-2001
African Military Coups d'État and Underdevelopment
What Do We Know about Natural Resources and Civil War
Explaining African Coups d'Etat
Explaining African Military Coups d'Etat, 1960-1982
Ethnicity, Insurgency, and Civil War
The Predictability of Coups d'état
The African Rank and File
Politicization of Ethnic Identities in Sierra Leone
The Nigerian Military
Modernization and Political Instability
The Structural Sources of Military Coups in Postcolonial Africa, 1957-1984
| Unique citing works | 83 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 8,3 |
| Citation span | 2016 - 2027 (12) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 82 |