Abstract This study focused on the (re)emergence of military governments in a region of Africa that has earned the name ‘coup belt’. It is based on a data set of coups in 14 sub-Saharan African countries between 2003 and 2024, and using a process-tracing approach it examined the reasons for the frequency of military coups in these states. The data was subjected to critical discourse analysis and the discourse-historical approach. The study posits that the determination of the correct deployment of a state sovereignty is often made by the citizenry, based on their diagnosis and choice of appropriate solutions. But it also shows that the expression of popular will is sometimes subdued and the outcomes are more populist than rational. As incomplete democracies, these fragile polities, fraught with intrasystemic crises, are vulnerable to conflict and competing global interests, which include resource extraction, opening them up to power grabs by elites and military dictatorships. The study concludes that in spite of the debilitating effects of military regimes on nation-states, there are opportunities that citizens can seize to change the narrative.

Abstract This study reviews developments in Burkina Faso from 2020 to 2025 to understand how its leader, Ibrahim Traoré, has approached resource governance through legal action, public policy and institutional change. The research focuses on the application of international legal principles, such as the UNGA Resolution 1803 ( XVII ) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, alongside responses from international investors and arbitration bodies. The findings show that although Traoré’s policies are a strong push for permanent control over natural resources, their implementation is made difficult by weak institutions, binding investment treaties and limited support from regional partners. Moreover, although public discourse and youth mobilisation around resource justice have increased, risks related to authoritarianism, corruption and exclusion remain. We believe that sustainable resource governance in Africa requires not only political will but also institutional reform, transparent legal frameworks and inclusive policymaking. It concludes that international law must evolve to better reflect the developmental priorities and sovereignty claims of resource-rich but economically marginalised states.

Abstract This article examines how small-scale (A1 villagised model) farmers in Zimbabwe’s Fast-Track Land Reform Programme ( FTLRP ) are using social capital as a form of resilience in the context of an economic precarity. With limited state support, fiscal instability and the near absence of formal financial and institutional assistance, small-scale farmers have reconfigured their social relations into vital mechanisms of production and survival. Using a case study from Zvimba District and qualitative research methods for this work, conducted between 2017 and 2022, the article argues that where traditional avenues to access financial resources are limited, farmers strategically use their social networks and relationships to secure and access seeds, agrarian labour and agricultural production support. The study’s findings demonstrate that reliance on social networks and relationships underscores social capital’s essential role in building resilience and sustaining livelihoods amid economic hardship.

Abstract This paper examines the origin and spread of the 1918 influenza pandemic in Igboland in British West Africa, highlighting the role of colonial networks in facilitating its transmission and spread. Using a historical research design, the paper argues that although roads and urban centres existed before colonial rule, the integration of Igboland into the colony, coupled with the establishment of colonial road networks and the emergence of new urban centres, significantly accelerated the spread of the disease in the region. The paper further demonstrates that both the colonial government and local communities were unprepared for such an overwhelming pandemic, making its control much difficult. Ultimately, the study shows that the influenza outbreak not only produced severe health and economic consequences but also strengthened colonial control. In addition, the impact of the pandemic on the colonial economy led to the construction of hospitals for infectious diseases in many parts of the Nigerian colony.

Abstract Social transmission can be seen as a process by which values are passed down by elders to younger people in order to socialise the next generation. This new generation then becomes responsible for preserving their cultural heritage. One of the cultural practices that promotes social transmission is theatre. An age-old practice, theatre is a channel that can encourage changes in behaviour in society. The aim of this study is to show that the transmission of social values through theatrical practice and artistic expression is specific and different from sociopolitical discourse and school didactics. The study uses a mixed methodology, namely the sociocriticism of Claude Duchet for theatre texts and the theatrical semiology of Louise Vigeant for theatrical performances, to answer the question: How do plays or theatrical performances convey messages that encourage peace and living together harmoniously? From the analysis, it emerges that, indeed, artistic and theatrical expression transmits messages of social change.

Abstract Using an ethnographic case study of the sugarcane industry in the Omo Valley, Ethiopia, this article documents and analyses the state’s modernist development approach and the responses it has triggered among pastoralists. The study highlights vernacular modernism in land development, characterised by state-dominated efforts to restructure peripheral society and the environment using a development model centred on land, water and labour, and mobilising the state’s bureaucracy, power and counterinsurgencies. This agrarian-based muscular development intervention disregards pastoralists’ communal land tenure, customary norms and institutions of resource governance, and livelihood choices. This modernist strategy has also compelled the pastoralists to cooperate with the sugar industry, offering a conditional consent of “let’s see” as a conscious strategy to adapt to hegemony and carve out a space to contest. This study highlights the pastoralists’ agency, manifesting a dilemma of inclusion and exclusion, and an evolving centre–periphery relationship, shaped mainly by the state’s coercive modernist development approach.