Paper short abstract:

This paper seeks to respond to the question raised on whether the resurgence of coups in the Sahel region is caused by the failure of Liberal democracy or another form of decolonization?

Paper long abstract:

The sub-Saharan Africa has been engulfed in many conflicts in the past decades caused by socio-economic decline, political, ethnic and foreign interference especially from France. The resurgence of coups in the Sahel region of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger between 2020 and 2023 has attracted debates among scholars and political analysts. While many studies have focused on the root causes regional and international responses, there remain a lot of unanswered questions of the real intentions of the military juntas. This paper aims to evaluate the domino effects of the coups especially by the former colonies of France in the recent past to ascertain whether the coups were caused by the failure of liberal democracy or another form of decolonization by another means. The recent withdrawal of the three countries from the Economic Community of West African States amid stringent sanctions, withdrawal of foreign aids and cancellation of military assistance from France and other western powers points to the decolonization paradigm of the juntas to throw away the neo-colonial yoke of France. In view of the mass appeals and goodwill the coups had received from the jubilant public, the paper contends that we are either witnessing the failure of liberal democracy or second wave of decolonization in the twenty-first century?