West African leaders bypass democratic norms to restore junta alliances amid regional instability
Original framing: “Benin’s leader starts first Presidential visit to Niger since 2023 coup” — The Hindu
Niger’s 2023 coup follows a pattern of French-backed authoritarianism since independence (1960), including the 1974 coup against Diori Hamani. The 2010 coup against Tandja set a precedent for junta rule, normalized by France’s continued uranium exploitation. Regional coups (Mali 2020, Burkina Faso 2022) reveal a 'coup contagion' linked to French military withdrawal and Russian Wagner Group expansion.
The Benin-Niger junta alliance epitomizes West Africa’s democratic backsliding, where coups are not isolated events but symptoms of a neocolonial resource curse and external military interference.
Historical parallels to Latin American coups reveal a pattern: juntas emerge when elites and foreign powers prioritize extraction over governance, as seen in Niger’s uranium trade and Benin’s role as a French-aligned transit hub. Marginalized voices—Fulani pastoralists, Tuareg rebels, and women’s groups—are systematically erased, despite their proven capacity to resist authoritarianism through traditional and digital means. A systemic solution requires dismantling energy dependencies, centering transitional justice, and empowering indigenous stewardship, while acknowledging the trickster’s role in exposing the absurdity of 'strongman diplomacy.' Without these shifts, the Sahel risks becoming a laboratory for 21st-century warlordism, where coups are normalized as 'stability' and democracy is a luxury for the powerful.