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Paper short abstract:

In the Sahel region, military coups has increased since 2020 than in any other region. Within just four years, five military coups occurred this region. The acceptability of citizens for these events are being analyzed using Thomas Hobbes's Social Contract and Marx's Historical Materialism.

Paper long abstract:

Africa and beyond, the nature and trend of military coups have continued to be a recurring issue with diverse opinions and positions in both electronic and print media and academia. While some citizens of these countries criticize the undemocratic nature of these events, others seem to support the ousting of democratically elected governments and the rise of military regimes. This paper adopts two theoretical frameworks – Thomas Hobbes' social contract and Karl Marx's historical materialism to explain the dynamics of citizens’ support for military overthrows in the Sahel region. It expounds on the nexus between the failure of the State’s social contract and the economic determinism of democratic governments and how this informs citizens’ preference and acceptability of military interventions. This paper raises the following questions: how do Thomas Hobbes’ Social contract and Marx’s historical materialism interplay to explain citizens’ support for undemocratic regimes? What is the nature and pattern of support of citizens for military coups and what are the socio-political implications of this in the Sahel and the whole of Africa? This paper adopts secondary sources such as chapters in books, journal articles, books, internet materials, newspapers, and social media captions and narrations. The paper argues that the failure of constituted authorities to fulfill the obligations as contained in social contracts and the expressive economic interests of political leadership is the impetus for citizens’ support for military coup d’états and the overthrow of civilian administration in the Sahel.