The military coup that took place in Myanmar in 2021 is just the tip of the iceberg of the cases of military seizing power between countries around the world. And these coups may be much more common than we realize. Unlike democratic coups, military coups often lead to dictatorship or tyrannical autocracy.
Why do these military coups continue to happen at some frequency? Why are they most common in Africa, America, Southeast Asia and Middle East ? The reasons are extremely complex, but countries that have experienced coups often have common characteristics. Whether it is economic conflict, the external influence of instability, the legacy of colonialism, or the tension of racial relations, it is a factor leading to a military coup that continues the cycle of violence, war and suffering.
Many countries still retain the colonial system after gaining independence
Problems exist: The continued impact of colonial rule in decolonized countries has exacerbated tensions between civilians and the military.
Story: Simply put, the legacy of colonialism continues to promote democratic rule in their respective countries, creating obstacles. This is especially true for African countries, because the brutal colonial rule of European countries, especially Britain, over these regions, has allowed the existing military forces here to remain in control by colonial forces after their countries gained independence. These colonial forces not only created a highly hierarchical society and restricted the rights of indigenous Africans, but also trained local troops to serve their geopolitical interests rather than protecting their own people.
After these colonial forces began to leave Africa in the 20th century, the newly independent countries established armies from the remnants of the colonial forces. But because these soldiers were trained by colonists, they were able to quickly mobilize against the resistance and remain hostile to the democrats. This made the 1960s and 1980s a high incidence of military coups. Although most of them occur in West African , they are common throughout the African continent.
Coup attempts have decreased in the following decades, but the recent coup in Mali proves that the coup is far from over. In 2012, the Mali armed forces, composed of veterans of the colonial French armed forces, overthrew the government of elected President Amadou Toumani Touré because he was disappointed with the ongoing Tuareg rebellion in northern Mali. Eventually, it caused years of turmoil and led to another military coup in 2020, with President Ibrahim Bubakar Keita resigning on live television and his government was dissolved.
The army often dominates the elections and the political system
Problems exist: In countries where the army generally dominates, democratic elections are often undermined and ultimately lead to political unrest.
Story: Just look at Myanmar and you will know what would happen if the military always maintained its dominance in the country? Since General Newin launched a coup in 1962, Myanmar has been ruled by one military regime after another for decades. And Naiwen and his successors continued to use violence, massacre and rumors to suppress the uprising.
Decades later, military leaders developed a plan that allows for elections and economic reforms. This led to the formation of the country's first transitional government in 2011 and gave way to the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi in 2015. However, the Myanmar military still controls important aspects of the Myanmar government, occupying a quarter of the seats in the parliament, while controlling the country's borders, national defense and internal affairs. These semi-democratic changes collapsed in early 2021, when Myanmar military launched a coup against Aung San Suu Kyi and claimed that there was voter fraud in the 2020 election.
Soon, Aung San Suu Kyi was condemned by the international community for supervising the genocide of the ethnic minority in western Myanmar Rohingya. Having said that, Aung San Suu Kyi won 83% of the vote in 2020, and experts believe there is no evidence of any fraud. On the contrary, voters' opposition to the Myanmar military and support for Aung San Suu Kyi's more democratic government are the reasons why Aung San Suu Kyi incited a coup.Aung San Suu Kyi is still under house arrest, with thousands of residents protesting on the streets, while the Myanmar military claims another election will be held in early 2022.
New political leaders, exploit or manage existing military groups
There are problems: Some military leaders of new independent countries believe that they have not received the guidance or training they need to transition with emerging governments.
Story: In the book "Military Coup in Africa - Africa's "Neocolonialism" is created by itself", published in 1985, Kenyan Army Major Jimmi Wangome attributed most of the responsibility for the military coup to corrupt political leaders who failed to incorporate the army developed under colonial rule into their own camp. According to Wangome,
, the practice of initially failing to Africanize the command of the armed forces, later became a major problem and a source of military dissatisfaction in most newly independent African countries, and these dissatisfactions will eventually become disastrous.
Wangome continues to take Congo as an example, a country with an army of 24,000 when it gained independence from the Belgians in 1960, but none of these soldiers were real Congolescent. Wangome believes that many new African leaders have chosen to greed, nepotism and mismanage the economy instead of forming a truly democratic government. This naturally created a perfect environment for the coup to be launched, and Wangome continued to insist that the coup would continue to occur until the socio-economic problems on the African continent are properly resolved.
The sudden evacuation of colonial troops left a power vacuum
The problem that exists: due to the way colonial forces rule their territory, their sudden withdrawal after achieving independence in the local area sometimes creates a political gap that allows opportunists to exploit.
Story: There is a reason why post-colonial countries are prone to civil wars and military coups. The colonists treated these nations like commodities, without giving local people the power to control their affairs, and naturally had no experience. This problem has also persisted since independence because the new autonomous government lacks the infrastructure to establish sustainable government operations.
When the British created Nigerian in 1914, it was more like a commercial enterprise than a country. Nigerians were forced to work for the UK, while corporate-minded executives of the Royal Niger Company plundered land for profits. When Nigeria became independent in 1960, the new country soon fell into a period of long civil war, military coups and political turmoil, and it did not end until 1999. A series of very similar events have also occurred in
Suriname . Before independence from the rule of Dutch in 1975, Suriname was always known as Dutch Guiana . Dutch is famous for its atrocities committed worldwide in the name of colonialism, and after the Dutch were driven out, local troops quickly took advantage of the country's weak new government. It was not until 1991 that a civilian government was established in Suriname.
Economic inequality and extraction make it easy to obtain and retain power
Problems: Leaders with links to imperialist countries gain control by leveraging the inequality system and opportunistic practices formed by the influence of the West.
Story: The vicious cycle of poverty and violence that plagues many non-Western countries is directly related to international law that is still deeply rooted in imperialist ideology. D. Asemoglu and J.A. Robinson revealed this reality in their 2013 book "Why the State Fails". According to the authors, these laws established by European countries have created significant gaps in countries that lack resources or economic systems to reduce wealth inequality.
Aseymogru and Robinson assume that countries with what they call a "predatory economic system" are usually doomed to fail. Unlike inclusive systems, predatory systems refer to controllers hoarding assets while restricting citizens’ right to acquire assets.These predatory systems were established by colonial powers, and in many countries, corrupt post-colonial rulers such as Joseph Mobuto of the Congolese) overwhelmed the states under these systems. For example, under Mobuto's rule, the country experienced a sharp economic recession.
These trends have led to civil wars, coups and endless power imbalances. The idea of preventing a coup or ensuring a new country does not fall into political turmoil is quickly thrown out of the sky. If these countries create more incentives to encourage citizens to save, invest and innovate, their economies can achieve long-term stability, greatly reducing the likelihood of military leadership of coups.
coup is a problem that foreign forces provoked for their own interests: external state organizations overturn elected leaders in order to advance their own international agenda.
Story: All stories about the United States participating in military coups around the world are actually true. Like Britain, a neighbor across the Atlantic, the United States has a long history of interfering in other countries' internal affairs by inciting annexation of vulnerable countries. The two most well-documented examples of this are the United States' participation in the Latin American coup and the central intelligence agency (CIA), which played a core role in the overthrow of the Iranian government in 1953.
Since the 19th century, the United States has been involved in Latin American affairs. From the construction of the Panama Canal to the support of President Reagan for the anti-communist far-right regime, the U.S. government has supported several coups, and those U.S. officials also believe that these coups will ensure the interests of the United States in the region. In 1964, the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) launched a coup against Guatemala President Jacob Abenz. In the next few decades, the U.S. government has also been looking for opportunities to overthrow left-leaning leaders and support the rise of dictatorial and authoritarian rulers, who will also bring turmoil and genocide to Latin America. Under the leadership of senior official Kemit Roosevelt Jr., the CIA cooperated with British Agent to overthrow Iranian in 1953 and was elected Prime Minister Mohamed Mossad. At that time, after Mossad tried to nationalize Iran's oil supply, Roosevelt created enough instability in the region to reset the Iranian king Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (Mohammad Reza Pahlavi), and Iran's oil supply was controlled by Britain for decades. This is a direct precursor to the 1979 Iranian revolution , and eventually Iran became the Islamic Republic under the leadership of Ayatollah Ruhora Khomeini, until today.
Ethnic division became more serious due to the division of the colonial period, causing unsolvable social unrest
The existing problems: under colonial rule, the amplified racial tensions caused division and dissatisfaction across generations.
Story: The geographical and social divisions set up by colonial countries gave birth to civil wars and military coups in Africa. Much of the borders between African countries originated from colonial times, thus facilitating interracial border conflict. When these ethnic conflicts overlap with economic difficulties, they will erupt.
The turbulent history of Rwanda proves this. In 1918, after World War I , this densely populated country was handed over to Belgium by Germany. Under Belgium's rule, a few Tutsi , which accounts for 85% of the population, were more popular among colonists, so there was a long-term friction between the two groups. Eventually, the Hutu people revolted in 1959, and then Rwanda became independent in 1962.
In 1994, Hutu extremists shot down the plane that moderate Hutu leader, Major General Habiyalimana, took, and decades of racial violence reached a shocking tipping point. From there, militants from both sides began a massacre. Within three months, 800,000 Rwandans died and 2 million fled, causing a refugee crisis.
Some inciteers launched a rumor-mongering campaign against elected officials
Problems: coups are sometimes incited by spreading lies about elections, representative governments and democratic reforms.
Story: Today, many coup attempts rely on the media, the Internet and newspapers to defend the removal of elected officials. In 2019, popular Bolivia President Juan Evo Morales Aima began seeking a fourth reelection in the general election after the country's court declared previous restrictions on elected officials invalid. When the election results showed that Morales was leading the opponent significantly, news around the world began to accuse Morales and his government of election fraud.
Bolivian military officials quickly forced Morales to voluntarily resign, leading to a coup, with Jenina Agnez, vice chairman of the Senate, taking power and replacing the senior leader with someone of her own choice. In early 2020, a study of the election by MIT experts found no evidence of fraud, which led them to conclude that Morales was likely to win the election legally. Afterwards, when Morales's Party (MAS) won the most votes in the re-election in June 2020, he returned to Bolivia after the new president of the Socialist Party, Luis Arsé.
This is similar to the crisis in Myanmar in 2021, when General Min Aung Hlaing claimed that Aung San Suu Kyi's overwhelming victory was the result of election fraud. Myanmar military leaders claim that people can vote multiple times and that nearly 5 million people are not participating in the election, so this is a huge conspiracy. However, Angh Lai did not provide any evidence to prove that his statement was correct.
Military factions try to overthrow violent, problematic leaders
Problems: If controversial leaders have too much control, they often inspire secret resistance movements and launch coups.
Story: During his dictatorship, the German head of state Adolf Hitler was at the center of several coup plots. However, these planned coups are not as good as the famous "July Conspiracy", and are close to the elimination of the German-ruled Nazi Party. In the summer of 1944, a group of senior German officers planned a plan to end Hitler's life with explosives and then overthrow his government. These people were convinced that Germany would be wiped out by the Allies at the end of World War II , so they hoped to use Germany's reserve forces to launch a coup after eliminating Hitler.
bomb was resettled by Colonel Klaus Schenk von Stauffenberg. On July 20, when the explosion occurred, Hitler met with more than 20 German officers and staff members, but only one person died and a few were injured, and Hitler was only slightly injured. The reserve army also fell into a deadlock after learning that the head of state survived the attack. Soon, General Fromm, who had been hesitant about participating in the operation, directly ordered the secret execution of Stauffenberg and others who participated in the operation in order to clear the relationship.
mosquitoes and malaria may also be related to coups
has problems: the impact of infectious diseases such as malaria may be one of the reasons for the large number of coups in Africa.
Story: In an open letter published by BBC, Ghanaian writer Elizabeth O'Ene attempts to reconcile with the historical violence of West Africa. She made an interesting point, writing: "I wonder if mosquitoes and malaria are related to this."
Elizabeth O'Ene believes that malaria is a deadly disease transmitted by mosquitoes that played an important role in African colonization in the 19th and 20th centuries. In turn, colonial forces brought the disease and its various variants throughout the African continent, fueling the turbulent epidemic.
For example: Zimbabwe , formerly a British colony Southern Rhodesia . Before 1980, Zimbabwe was ruled by a few white people. With the arrival of Prime Minister Mugabe in , Zimbabwe ushered in a new era. After decades of Mugabe's dictatorship, there were many coups here until Mugabe was ousted in 2017 and was taken over by Emerson Mnangagwa .In addition to political conflicts, waves of malaria epidemics have ravaged Zimbabwe, and its crumbling medical system has made the situation worse.
