A large crowd of Nigerians attending a public event, highlighting local fashion and community engagement.
Five years after Mali’s 2020 coup ignited a wave of military takeovers in West Africa, the pattern is increasingly hard to ignore. From Guinea to Gabon, coup leaders are not only seizing power—they’re learning from each other. These regimes thrive on civilian support, inconsistent international responses, and a playbook of entrenchment strategies like rebranded elections and shifting alliances. Countries like Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger have also exited regional blocs and embraced Russia, using sovereignty narratives to justify authoritarian rule. The key lesson? Coups aren’t isolated events—they’re contagious, calculated, and sustained by weak deterrents. Without coordinated global responses and stronger democratic institutions, this trend may continue to spread across the continent.
The Conversation