Paper short abstract:

The military coups in Sub-Saharan countries deeply impact African society by breaching their constitutional order. The constitutional disruption affects both the institutional and the normative dimensions of the constitutional law

Paper long abstract:

Military takeover as a mean of acceding to political power has resurged in the last four years (from 2020 to now) in Africa, predominately in the sub-Saharan countries (Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Niger, Chad, Sudan, Gabon). This new trend is very anachronistic, as African societies seemed to have definitively adhered to the democratic principle and the rule of law. It disrupts then the so called « new constitutionalism » era in Africa (Colliard and Jégouzo, 2001) set up at the end of the cold war, from the eve of 1990s. While the various justifications put forward remain questionable, the consequences are immeasurable. One of these consequences, from a legal stand, is constitutional disturbance. The first target of the coups perpetrators is, indeed, to breach the constitutional order that grounds the political power they tear down.

Considering the importance of constitutionalism in contemporary societies, constitutional disturbance is a perfect angle to assess the degree of disruption caused by military coups in the communities entangled in such crisis. This proposal aims to analyse the flash-back generated by the phenomenon on the constitutional issues. Indeed, prima facie, it appears that these military takeovers severely affect the constitutional law, through both its institutional and normative dimensions. While on one hand, the coups d’état destabilize the political institutional architecture, on the other hand, they contribute to enhance the constitutional normative crisis (Aivo, 2012).