Des casernes aux chancelleries

The object of this study is to point out the link between two phenomena in Africa which have seldom been brought together: military power and the international system. The central question is: do military take-overs in Africa change the international position of the states where they occur? This article concerns three French-speaking West African states: Upper Volta, Mali, and Togo.Generally speaking, military take-overs are seen as being a process of modernization, and more specifically, of rationalization of the state. However, the foreign policy of these states shows no obvious and immediate change; the status-quo predominates. An explanation for this would seem to be the weakness of these states with respect to the very rigidly structured international system.First, the foreign policy of the military regimes was compared with that of their predecessors (declarations, the budget for foreign affairs, diplomatic corps personnel, official visits, treaties) and a great stability was observed. If the foreign policy of these three states is then compared with that of civilian regimes in Africa one can conclude that the military variable plays but a secondary rôle in new diplomatic trends which appear on the African continent. This situation can apparently be explained by: 1) the obligation on the part of the military not to disrupt internal social forces (internal constraints); and 2) the impossibility of overcoming external constraints (neutralization of military power as an instrument of foreign policy, the weight of economic, commercial and cultural structures).Thus, military take-overs are generally unable to make African stales strong enough to allow them to put an end to a situation of dependence

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