Undoing military coups in Africa

In assuming political power, bloodily or bloodlessly, the military are throwing off civilian control. They are thus in a very practical way denying the validity of Carl von Clausewitz's well known dictum in his book On War, published in 1832, where he maintains that the 'subordination of the military point of view to the political is ... the only thing which is possible. The lessons of African experience over the last two decades do, however, suggest that long-term political development towards a stable and relatively just society in most cases depends not on subordination of one view to another but on cooperation and even integration. This may be just as true of societies where there has been no coup and no military regime as of those where there has been a long period of military rule. The idea that demilitarisation consists of a straightforward transfer of power at a predetermined moment from the military back to civilian politicians is, to say the least, simplistic. In some ways it is perhaps an even more complex process than decolonisation, in others it is similar, particularly in so far as there is often an attempt to determine, condition, inhibit and constrain the behaviour of the successor government. The principal difference is that, unlike presumably the colonial power, the military have not gone home across the seas but only round the corner back to barracks. The possibility of reintervention is always there and has been especially dramatically demonstrated in Ghana and Nigeria, in each of which cases the original intention of the military finally to withdraw was clearly genuine and the preparations were conscious and seemed impeccable. The disillusionment and cynicism which has now understandably set in is obviously dangerous in that it may inhibit worthwhile attempts at political evolution. The failures themselves stem from lack of understanding not just of the complexities of the process but of some of the component phenomena. The character, composition and procedures of military-based governments vary enormously. The extent to which government and administration is actually carrried out by military or