DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL AND ADMINISTATIVE STUDIES

TERM PAPER POL101

SEMESTER ONE 2023\2024

NAMES: DIELELO MERAPELO PRECIOUS DITAU

STUDENT ID: 202302527

COURSE: POL101

LECTURER: D.SEBUDUBUDU

QUESTION: USING ANY OF THE 6 WEST AFRICAN STATES CURRENTLY UNDER

MILITARY RULE, EVALUATE IF THE MILITARY SHOULD BE INVOLVED IN
POLITICS
INTRODUCTION
In some West Africa states, there are countries falling under the military rule. The military
rule has been involved in politics since long ago, this has now become a norm and this trend
is still to date. Due to its coercion it has messed up the political system and has caused many
problems for most countries .According to Huntington military intervention is often the acute
social and political unrest. ’Military intervention in short, often marks the ends of a sequence
of violence in politics. In Therefore, the purpose of this essay is to argue that the military
should not be involved in politics. This essay will start with the political background of
military in politics. Secondly, explain the key terms military, military rule and politics. Lastly,
this essay will focus on the factors that drive military into politics which are political
instability, lack of freedom and corruption hence a conclusion will be drawn. This essay will
be focusing mainly on Niger.
Military are the armed forces of the country such as the army, navy and air force, these forces
defend and protect the country from external and internal enemies(Oxford). Military rule is
when a government is controlled mainly by the military. Politics is the process of making and
implementing decision that have an impact of how the resources and power are distributed in
a society. (Oxford).This is mainly done at the local, national and international level.
POLITICAL BACKGROUND
In February 2022 there was a military coup in Niger. In July 2022 the military seized power
from the elected president, Mohamed Bazoum and suspended the constitution. He and his
family were placed under arrest. This coup was caused by the widespread across the country
about economic situation and corruption by those in power hence the military intervened
portraying the image of taking back the country to its old self. Since then, the country has
been under intense investigation as the Economic Community Of West African States
(ECOWAS) as it has imposed sanctions against the military as they imparted a coup against
the president as it mostly concerned with the stability of its states members and the military
only destroys.
POLITICAL INSTABILITY
For a country to have a good record of political stability the relationship between the military,
civilian and government should also be stable .They all have to act well with each other to
produce positive results like living in a peaceful world without conflict otherwise if this is not
the case then conflicts are likely to occur and affect the political stability in a way that it
would be difficult for even the government to maintain a stable government hence the
relationship between the civilians and the government will be strained which then causes lack
of cooperation hence contributing to instability. Using the language of Weber, we can
conclude that politics and military do not work out together and they tend to not benefit the
country in any way including political and economically stability. As a result, it must be
emphasized that military intervention into politics has caused massive political instability that
has adversely affected the economy of many sectors for instance the business and financial
sectors.
In addition, it has also led to lack of economic development because of the lack of
accountability as decisions are not made in the interest of people. For instance, it may favour
certain group of farmers than others. Secondly, it has made investors reluctant to invest in a
country that is unstable which in turn leads to lack of capital and revenue hence the country
will not be able to function well without foreign investment. The lack of democratic
institutions under military rule also hampers instability as they are no elections to choose
leaders.
Moreover, the major economic supporter which assisted the country with financial aid from
the US announced that the economic support it provides is at risk. The US made it very clear
that it does not support military coup and will not provide support to a country that does not
respect democratic principles hence this does not affect only the military but the country as
whole. “Our economic and security partnership with Niger-which is significant, hundreds of
millions of dollars-depends on the continuation of the democratic governance and
constitutional order that has been disrupted in the last few days,” Blinken said. So that
assistance, that support, is clear jeopardy as a result of these actions, which is another reason
why they need to move immediately reversed”.
Lastly, military involvement has led to a decrease in agricultural production. The land
grabbing and the mismanagement of agricultural resources has led to a decline in agricultural
output as farmers are unable to access land and produce food which in turn results in high
levels of poverty. It has also led to decrease in government revenue as the country is unable to
collect taxes from the agricultural sector as it is not making any progress. This has limited the
government to improve infrastructure that could stimulate economic growth. The main causes
of the problems mentioned above about the agricultural sector are caused by lack of dedicated
agricultural ministries. In the civilian government ministers make all decisions concerning the
sectors hence no problems encountered while the military lacks knowledge and resources as a
result policies may be poorly designed.
LACK OF FREEDOM
In most cases lack of freedom refers to a situation in which a person is not able to make
decisions freely without opposition. Under military rule citizens have been subjected to
restrictions on their freedom of expression, assembly and participation in the political
process. In addition, the military has violated the human rights of citizens to a point that
citizens no longer enjoy the rights they are entitled to. The abuse of human right is common
with the military. These restrictions and violations indicate that the military leads in a way
that benefits them only and do not consider the citizens feelings. Brutality, torture and abuse
of rights are characteristic of military rule as it uses force for civilians to obey. For example,
women and children suffer from kidnapping and intimidation as the military uses force them
to terrorize them. This has displaced civilians as they are unable to obtain their freedom and
they even need permissions to go outside town which then leads to displacement hence
population decreases. Analysis from the Africa Centre for studies found out that Niger had a
43% increase in violence since military took over.
Furthermore, military involvement in politics is a worst system of government due to the
absence elections. In military, officials are not elected by civilians as such are not
representatives of the people which means there is no existence of political parties. According
to Allegrozzi, the military should provide a more detailed plan to democracy and rule of law
and respect of civilian’s right to choose their own leaders. It has led to lack of freedom of
speech and expression and those that who speak out face serious punishments such as
imprisonment.
In addition, the media is prohibited from reporting on security situations. The media outlets
end up getting shut down for criticizing the government hence people are not able to know
what is happening in their country. This has made the military to broadcast information that
supports their own agenda. For example, in 2021, journalist Aksar was convicted of
defamation of public funds from the Ministry of Defence and between June and July 2020
Samira Sabou was detained for 48 hours, while pregnant following the complaint of the
former president son. According to Dialo ‘’It is the responsibility of the authorities to ensure
that the media can do their work freely, and to protect journalist and bloggers against attack,
threats or judicial harassment’’. This emphasizes that the military should cooperate with the
media so as they can be progress.
Moreover, political opponents may be imprisoned without a fair trial. Secondly they may face
harassment and intimidation from the government. For instance, Amodou was an elected
Prime Minister who was oust by military coup for being opposed to what they believed in. He
was arrested and imprisoned this did not break him as he continued being opposed to the
military rule as a result this led to harassment and intimidation after he was released as he lost
his rights. For example, he was denied a passport, government agents followed him around
which was an invade to privacy and his bank accounts were frozen which then made it
difficult for him to continue his political work as surely this made the military happy as they
achieved their goals of making things go their way. Thirdly, the opposing party faced
difficulties organising gathering as they public gathering got banned. This made it difficult
for opponents to speak out against the military.
Lastly, there is restriction to political freedom, as they are restrictions towards formation of
political parties hence the right of individuals to vote is abused. For instance under the
military rule only one party is allowed to exist and by the military authority regulating its
daily activities.
CORRUPTION
This is the dishonest and illegal behaviour used by people in position of power or authority to
abuse that not in power. Because of the power that comes with leadership the military gets
tempted to abuse their authority hence the society losing trust in leadership. In most cases this
done for power or money which results in moral standards being neglected. Corruption may
be in the form of bribery which involves giving someone in power money so as one can gain
some favours, it can also be in the form of embezzlement where people entrusted with money
or property uses it for their own personal gain and nepotism where someone is given a better
treatment than others. Corruption exits in all countries, and it is slowly becoming a norm.
Recent theory advancement has indicated a relationship between the military in politics and
corruption, the results reveal that corruption index increases once the military rules. Once its
rules, there are societal groups which benefit more than other for instance, military as an
institution and the individual militants are benefited. The military as an institution benefit in
cases of share in in national resources and a rise in military expenditure such as salaries and
new military hardware ordered even the militants being given new facilities while society
continue to suffer. This is mostly caused by limited investigations concerning the military
hence it is susceptible to corruption.
 Secondly, the military as individuals gain a lot as personal power and wealth is enhanced
once they get into politics. Their expenditure increase as they get high salary. The money
generated not being used in the most effective way which could benefit both the military and
civilians being misused. For instance, money which is supposed to be spent on military needs
ending up on something which is not needed by the military. According to the audit general
of the military contractor it was revealed that almost 40% of the $312 million Niger spent on
defence procurement contracts was lost through inflated cost and material which was not
delivered. A lot of money was lost in the hands of the military which could have at least
helped developed the country.
Moreover, the military accepts bribes and favour only one people instead of fair market
competition.” More than 90% of contracts awarded to the Ministry of Defence were direct
negotiated by agreement which only favoured corruptive practices and overbilling,” said
Amadou. “The competition is unfair and sometimes non-existence”. Thus, this indicates that
military rule in politics is not fair to the civilians as they do not get a chance to grow and get
contracts which can improve their lives. For instance corrupt officials with no experience in
the defence sectors being awarded contracts. Charfo and Hima were ones of the undeserving
contractors in Niger who received constructing arm deals despite of them knowing nothing
about it and he received many contracts to supply the military with equipment. According to
the Inspection General Audit show that cost inflation and corrupt practices by Charfo cost the
military 24.7 million which would with fair competition cost less. Competing companies
were either controlled or belonged to Charfo which is unacceptable when it comes to
contracts as they should be fair competition. To add to this, Wilson (2006) provide evidence
that government tender out 50% or more of their defence procurement requirement to one
supplier. This indicates that the military manipulates tenders for their own gain.
Lastly, military is also a major factor to corruption as according to the recent estimates of
World Bank it issued a statement concerning the military in politics which is,
“The World Bank believes that peace, stability and rule of law are fundamental for creating a
world of free of powers on a liveable planet. We are alarmed by efforts to overthrow the
democratic elected government in Niger. In response the World Bank has paused
disbursement for all operations until further notice other than the private sector partnership
which will continue with caution.
The Bank emphasizes that it will monitor the situation closely as its goals is to improve the
quality life and opportunities for the people of Niger. This indicates that corruption has
reached a level which even the World Bank cannot withstand hence it has to cut ties.
CONCLUSION
This paper has evaluated the role of military rule under politics and discussed the factors that
lead the military into politics. Though there has been much argument on this essay, in general
it can be said that the military involvement in politics is not needed. This is made evident by
the fact that it has affected the country badly. Additionally, there is nothing worth it that
military produces when involved in politics.
REFERENCES
African Centre for strategic studies.2023.Attempted coup in Niger: Backgrounder.
Aina, F.2023.Rights at risks since military took over. Military intervention in Niger Bound to
Fail
Amnesty International 2022.Niger: Conviction of investigative journalist marks deepening
repression of media freedom.
Associated press, 2023.Blinken says U.S economic support for Niger is at risk as military
take over threatens stability
Gavin, M.2023.The military seizes power in Niger
Steven, F. 2020.If Niger hopes to secure peace it must address defence corruption.
Oyedeyi, I. 2023. NIGER LIBERATORS ravaged by corruption at home. Paradox of war
mongering ECOWAS leaders.
Pita, A.2023.What underlines the coup in Niger
Washington, 2023.World Bank statement of Niger