West Africa’s coup epidemic and its causes

Over the past couple of years, we have seen what the UN Secretary-General has termed “an epidemic of coups” in West Africa. Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea-Conakry, Guinea-Bissau and Niger have witnessed seven coups and coup attempts since 2020. In this episode we talk about the main causes behind these coups and the development of democracy in the region. With us are three researchers from the Nordic Africa Institute; Papa Sow, Cristiano Lanzano and Jesper Bjarnesen.