Democratic Backsliding in Economic Community of West African States and The Resurgence of Military Coups: Criticisms of The Bloc and Its Threat to West African Regionalism

Abstract

In the last few years, several regions around the world have experienced some form of democratic backsliding, including West Africa as a notable hotspot. Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso are all currently led by military juntas, following a series of coups across Africa’s Sahel region since 2020. While there are studies on regional development concerns bordering on unconstitutional change of government, little is said about the trajectories, causative factors and threats it poses to democracy. The broad objective of this study was to interrogate the resurgence of coups, despite West African countries’ commitment to promoting democratic governance with the 1993 revision of the Economic Community of West African States founding treaty, which also emphasised peace, security and stability. The institutional theory was used to interrogate factors influencing military coups within the bloc. The paper was based on observations and narratives on military coups found in extant literature. It advocates for a dire need for member states to uphold democratic tenets to avoid truncating ECOWAS’ Vision 2050 which stressed more on regional organisation rule of law, freedoms and political rights. This will help to caution resurgence of coups in West Africa.