Since the beginnings of independence, a number of African nations have been plagued by repeated coup d'états. Within the African Union (AU), there has been a concerted effort to break this cycle through the official adoption of an ‘anti-coup norm’, by which the AU is mandated to suspend a member state and restore constitutional order following a coup. Supporters of this stance see it as strengthening democracy in Africa, while critics argue that it has served to prop up existing regimes. But there has been little analysis of what the AU’s attempts to ‘restore constitutional order’ have meant for individual African states.
In the online event "The African Union and Post-Coup Intervention in Madagascar" by the African Studies Centre at the University of Oxford, Antonia Witt (Senior Researcher at PRIF) will present main findings from her book "Undoing Coups" about the legacy of the AU’s intervention in Madagascar following the 2009 "Malagasy crisis", one of the increasingly relevant yet under-researched cases of non-Western intervention in Africa. The book looks at the ways in which international intervention reconfigured the political order in Madagascar, how it facilitated the power struggle within the Madagascan elite and prevented more profound political change. It also considers what the example set by the Madagascan intervention means for the wider international order in Africa and the powers attributed to African international actors such as the AU.
The African Union and Post-Coup Intervention in Madagascar
When: 20 May 2021, 3pm (BST)
Where: Online event
Members of the African Studies Centre's mailing list will automatically receive the event link by email. To join any seminar please email brenda.mccollum@kellogg.ox.ac.uk to be added to the mailing list. Further information.