Abstract
Why has postcolonial Africa been so vulnerable to military coups? Examination of the different types of military interventions (plots, attempts, and successful seizures) and comparison of the immediate independence period with the 1970s show the major sources of coups to be ethnic antagonisms stemming from cultural plurality and political competition, and the presence of strong militaries with factionalized officer corps. There is no evidence for a political overload due to rising mass participation, but politically factionalized regimes were more vulnerable to coups. During the 1970s, export dependence created political turmoil, which led to plotting, but foreign capital penetration, by strengthening states, deterred coups. Military coups are largely driven by elite rivalries inside the military and the civilian government. Stable civilian rule would require and elite pact to regulate political competition within multiethnic states.
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