dictatorship countries 2021 in africa
Six Coups. There are eight dictatorships in Asia, seven in the Eurasian region of the world, and twelve spanning from Africa s northern parts to the Middle East. April 25, 2023 Eswatini (previously Swaziland) has an absolute monarchy dictatorship in which the king rules over the country. What happens in Sudan will not stay in Sudan, said Alan Boswell of the International Crisis Group. After the coup in Burkina Faso, the regional economic bloc, ECOWAS, released a statement saying that such a move cannot be tolerated, and instructing the soldiers to return to their barracks. Protesters against military coup in Khartoum, Sudan, in October. 2021 Facebook alsostatedthat as part of its strategy, the Ministry of Information had been using "fake and duplicate accounts" for propaganda purposes. The United States, the European Union and France endorsed the sanctions on Mali, but at the U.N. Security Council, Russia and China blocked a statement supporting them. with Heidi Campbell and Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, with Ivan Kanapathy, Bonny Lin and Stephen S. Roach, Authors Note: Comparing and Quantifying Democracy, Malcolm and Carolyn Wiener Annual Lecture. The persistence of religious and ethnic rivalries has been underestimated by African democrats and their friends abroad. In their first meeting, in April 2021, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari proposed to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken that the headquarters of U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) be moved from Stuttgart, Germany, to an African country. Unless it is swiftly ended, the conflict will become a multi-level game with regional and some international actors pursuing their interests, using money, arms supplies and possibly their own troops or proxies, he wrote. [33] What makes post-independence sub-Saharan Africa so interesting is that they have witnessed all forms of regimes including royal dictatorship, military dictatorship and civilian dictatorship making up the autocratic regimes, as well as democratic regimes that include parliamentary democracy, mixed democracy and presidential democracy. Paradoxically, the weakness of Burkina Fasos armed forces was a major factor in the coup. Until recently, successive Nigerian governments hadopposed an AFRICOM headquarters on the continent, as had Nigerias political class. Meanwhile, the sheer number of would-be mediators including the U.S., the U.N., the European Union, Egypt, Gulf countries, the African Union and the eight-nation eastern Africa bloc known as IGAD could render any peace efforts more complicated than the war itself. Laos (Lao People's Democratic Republic) North Korea. Ukraine updates: Air defenses fend off attack near Kyiv, Ukraine: Russian troops edge closer to taking Bakhmut, Ukraine's counteroffensive: Goals, opportunities, risks, Truly revolutionary? Declan Walsh contributed reporting from Ouagadougou. Buharis remarkable reversal is an indication of the security threat posed by groups such as Boko Haram that draw on the alienation of many Africans from their governments, in part the result of stalling or declining democracy. A dictatorship is a type of government in which a single personthe dictatoror party has absolute power. But here, Leonard Mbulle-Nziege and Nic Cheeseman argue that - despite these set-backs - democracy is the way forward for Africa. Instead, presidents atrophied support because they undermined their own democratic credentials in a context of rising instability and - in the case of Burkina Faso and Mali - jihadist insurgencies. Wagner group surges in Africa as U.S. influence fades, leak reveals. WebOne-party dictatorships became prominent in Asia and Eastern Europe during the Cold War as communist governments were installed in several countries. Despite the decline, a plurality of countries (twenty-two) are considered partially free, in line with the sixteen-year average. But billions of dollars in loans and aid were put on hold after the 2021 military coup. Why Now? An autocracy, monarchy, and dictatorship. Hybrid dictatorships blend elements of the other four types. Dictatorship Arab Gulf countries have looked to the Horn of Africa in recent years as they have sought to project power across the region. Meanwhile, the number of African countries that Freedom House rated not free has grown from a low of fourteen in 2006 and 2008 to twenty in 2021. It's time for the United States to get serious about stopping the flow. Although it is true that some dictators are far more strict and overbearing than others, as a rule, dictatorships tend to result in a loss of personal autonomy, quality of life, and political choice for everyday citizens. A political rival accused Obiang of cannibalism in 2004, but no evidence to support the claim has ever surfaced. Sudan became an international pariah when it hosted Osama bin Laden and other militants in the 1990s, when al-Bashir had empowered a hard-line Islamist government. The Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) is stocked with autocrats, while the East African Community (EAC) has been but a weak presence to the point of risking irrelevance. Initial signs following Magufulis death are promising for Tanzanian democracy: Samia Suluhu Hassan, the vice president under Magufuli, was sworn in as president as prescribed by the constitution. This may sound like a contradiction of terms to many people. In southern Africa, the triumvirate of Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa are all considered free. This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) License. As governments across the continent become, with some exceptions, more authoritarian, Africans will be increasingly alienated from those claiming to represent them. Mali and Burkina Fasos armed forces have little to no control over vast areas of their territories, and lean heavily on self-defense militias with little training and questionable human rights records. This is thanks to an oil boom that enriched his family at the expense of the Equatorial Guinea citizens. Social media is becoming another tool of oppression.". Tellingly, where coups have been seen to usurp processes of democratisation, they have been deeply unpopular. In Burkina Faso, a country that has experienced a lot of coups, there were a handful of pro-putsch rallies the day after the military seized power, but many people just went to work as usual. Heads of state have deftly manipulated social cleavages and played up fears of malevolent foreign interference to deflect popular pressure away from their illiberal rule. Dictators More broadly, digital repression has become commonplaceespecially around electionsas leaders seek to throttle the opposition and influence popular discourse, frequently through disinformation. 2023 BBC. 2021 But that solved nothing: Insecurity got worse; corruption and living standards, no better. In March 2021, there was a failed coup attempt in Niger, then in September 2021, it was Guineas turn: A high-ranking officer trained by the United States overthrew a president who had tried to cling to power. But this demand angers some people who think that the military is acting in the countrys interest. It uneasily shares its waters with regional heavyweights Egypt and Ethiopia. Theres a belief that strongmen can better face the security risks, especially in the Sahelian countries where violence is spiraling, said Anna Schmauder, a research fellow focused on the Sahel in the conflict research unit of the Dutch think tank Clingendael. Current Heads of State & Dictators - Planet Rulers, President Faustin Archange Touadera of the, President Flix Tshilombo Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, President Denis Sassou Nguesso of the Republic of the Congo, President Teodoro Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea, President Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman Burhan of. Both Twitter and Facebook accusethe Ugandan government of using social media asa tool politicians to manipulate public opinion, spread disinformation, and intimidate the opposition. Mali actually had two coups in a nine-month span. Other U.S. assistance programs support judicial independence, a critical component of functional democracy that is lacking in much of Africa. and. In neighboring Guinea, some initially greeted the coup leader as a liberator, but many also shut themselves up at home, afraid for the future. But some critics remain unconvinced. Far from being a short-term Sudanese problem, this conflict between two rival centres of military power illustrates a common long-term problem in Africa. By Greg Miller. In March 2021, Magufuli diedhis death was attributed to heart disease but was likely brought on by COVID-19. As of 2020, there are 52 nations with a dictator or authoritarian regime ruling the country: Three in Latin America and South America, 27 in Asia and the Middle East, and 22 in Africa. With a population that is much younger than those of China, the US and the EU, there will be renewed interest in Indias potential to be a beacon of liberal values. India had been an exception to the rule that capitalism comes before democracy. Apr 9, 2021 | Tags: President | Category: 1 Africa dictators, Africa Leaders, All, Dictators. Examples include the Personalist/Military dictatorship of Pakistan from 1977 to 1988 and the Single-Party/Military hybrid that controlled El Salvador from 1948 to 1984. Chadian soldiers walk by the coffin of the late Chadian president Idriss Deby during the state funeral in Ndjamena last April. On a similar note, a dictatorship's regular citizens have no voice in most matters. Another reason is of course the need to try and avoid international condemnation and sanctions by pledging a return to multiparty elections and democratic governance. "It will also take time for those in power to stop using surveillance and monitoring as a means to counter criticism. When the Malian government fell, analysts warned that Burkina Faso could follow. Littoral states are also, on average, freer than landlocked ones, likely benefitting from increased interactions with foreigners from democratic societiesa factor more important prior to the advent of the digital age. (The military) will want to take control of gold mines and smuggling routes. Rumors spread of a military takeover. WebFreedom in the World 2021 Status Change Explanations. Democracy is defined differentlyby the United Nations [PDF], academics [PDF], and politiciansand comes in various forms. But theres no one-size-fits-all explanation. United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres called it an epidemic of coup dtats.. 8. Three years later, thatfigure had risen to 81 countries. However, after the January 16 election, Kutesa said the shut-downhad been"a necessary step to stop the biting language and incitement to violence. Some have been in power for decades, such as President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial New Guinea. Again, the Leaked documents show Russias surge into Africa as U.S. When the third wave of democratization swept across much of Africa in the wake of the Cold War, hopes were high that Africans would begin to enjoy the freedoms afforded to citizens living in the former colonial powers. Cuba. In Guinea, former President Alpha Cond controversially modified the constitution in 2020 to allow him to run for a third term in office. The president is nowhere to be seen. The leaders of dictatorships are not outwardly identified as dictators when other people are addressing them. Secondly, while the term "dictatorship" is widely understood to include inherent abuse of powerthere is arguably no such thing as a benevolent dictatorhistory offers several examples of autocrats who tried to do what was best for their people. But a military takeover doesnt necessarily lead to a more effective response against insurgencies continuing attacks in Mali are evidence of that, she said. Leonard Mbulle-Nziege is a research analyst at Africa Risk Consulting (ARC) and Nic Cheeseman is a professor of democracy at the University of Birmingham in the UK. Africa has several long-standing dictators despite the fact that the continent as a whole is quite volatile politically. By contrast, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) has been paralyzed by its inability or unwillingness to address the excesses of Zimbabwes ruling party, the Zimbabwe African National UnionPatriotic Front (ZANU-PF), because of its origins as a liberation movement. "This method is gaining ground in countries whose leaders are desperately struggling to maintain their image and reputation on social media.". Over the past decade, the Fed kept interest rates low while it deployed trillions of dollars in stimulus and expanded its regulatory oversight. Backgrounder The Democratic Republic of Congo has been subjected to centuries of international intervention by European powers, as well as its African neighbors. John Campbell and While a large number of countries have Across Africa, long-standing dictators are losing their grip on power. This third annual report monitors global progress towards the 2023 target for global elimination of industrially produced trans-fatty acids (TFA), highlighting The sanctions have caused anger, but against ECOWAS, not the junta. Ghanas President Nana Akufo-Addo said on Friday, It represents a threat to peace, security and stability in West-Africa.. Are military takeovers on the rise in Africa? Yet, if a witchs brew of jihadi terrorists, criminal networks, and the disaffected destroy sitting governments, the human rights consequences certainly will be worse than the status quo. Weekly. African Dictators Have Been Losing PowerSome to Democratic From the outside looking in, life within a dictatorship appears akin to being in a toxic relationship or living situation. Hes also believed to have been well-paid by Gulf countries for the RSFs service in Yemen battling Iran-aligned rebels. With every country that gets added to this list, the voices claiming that democracy is not working - and cannot work - in Africa grow louder. There were four successful coups in Africa in 2021 there hadnt been that many in a single calendar year since 1999. Michele Cattani/Agence France-Presse Getty Images, governments failure to protect its people from violent extremists. Examples can be found across Africa: from Guinea to Somalia to South Africa, democracy ratings slid amid the COVID-19 crisis. Robyn Dixon. Presidents that have changed their countries constitutions to eliminate the two-term limit include Presidents Gnassingb (Togo), Museveni (Uganda), Dby (Chad), On April 21, 1976, a group of four Greek Army colonels overthrew the caretaker government in a coup d'etat. Governments are performing abysmally, said Abdul Zanya Salifu, a scholar at the University of Calgary who focuses on the Sahel, the swath of Africa that lies just below the Sahara. Economic prosperity, also concentrated on the coasts [PDF], likely has also influenced a positive democratic trajectory. Chads military is considered one of the continents strongest, yet it has failed to stop deadly attacks by Boko Haram and its splinter group, Islamic State West Africa Province, an insurgency that is now a decade old. The government also doesn't shy away from temporarily shutting down social media alrogether, as waswitnessed during the run-up to the presidential election a year ago. African January 31, 2022, How Tobacco Laws Could Help Close the Racial Gap on Cancer, Interactive Military takeovers are unlikely to provide an effective way out of this dangerous spiral, because every coup weakens democratic institutions and reasserts the power of the gun at the expense of the power of the ballot box. Countries are responding to the World Health Organization (WHO) call to action by putting into place best-practice TFA policies. WebList of Every Communist Country in the World as of 2021: China.
