CDD-West Africa Raises Alarm Over Rising Military Populism in Francophone Africa

• Warns of Democratic Backsliding and Digital Authoritarianism

The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD-West Africa) is gravely concerned by the resurgence and normalisation of military rule in parts of West and Central Africa. Our newly released background paper, Militarism Reloaded: The Rise of Military Populism in Francophone West Africa, outlines how recent coups, particularly in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Guinea, are not simply reversions to old patterns but expressions of a more sophisticated and ideologically packaged authoritarianism.

Far from being isolated disruptions, these military interventions present themselves as national corrections, cloaked in the language of sovereignty, anti-imperial resistance, and Pan-African revivalism. This emerging military populism anchored on growing citizens’ frustrations with democratic failure, insecurity, and the persistent inequities around the world, particularly in West and Central Africa. But its allure is deceptive. Beneath the surface of patriotic slogans and digital virality lies a strategic attempt to consolidate power, silence dissent, delay transitions, and reconfigure what legitimacy means in postcolonial Africa.

Drawing on decades of military tutelage under colonial rule, this new wave of populist militarism repackages authoritarianism as a necessary national sacrifice. Electoral processes are postponed or rewritten, constitutions suspended, and civil society voices suppressed under vague threats to national security. In the Sahelian states of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, military regimes increasingly manipulate digital platforms to mobilise support, spread disinformation, and cultivate parallel narratives where elections are portrayed as distractions and the military, once again, becomes the ‘saviour of the state’.

This evolving phenomenon is dangerous not only because of its domestic implications but also for its regional reverberations. ECOWAS, once a bulwark of democratic norms, now struggles to enforce its own red lines. The weakening of regional institutions, coupled with a geopolitical pivot away from traditional allies, threatens to undermine decades of democratic progress across West Africa.

Over the next eight months, CDD-West Africa, in collaboration with partners across the region, will conduct in-depth research on how military populism spreads and sustained leveraging platforms. CDD-West Africa will monitor digital propaganda, analyse ideological framing, and assess the threats posed to elections, civic space, and regional cohesion. The goal is to generate evidence-based insights and practical recommendations to help safeguard West Africa’s information environment and to support democratic resilience.

This moment requires clarity, courage, and coordination. CDD-West Africa urges African governments, citizens, civil society, and regional bodies not to mistake military populism for reforms. Coups are not answers to civilian failures. They are only accelerators of fragility. The time to act is now. It is essential to underscore this before narratives harden, institutions crumble, and another generation of the citizens grow up believing that the gun, not the vote, is the legitimate path to power in Africa.

SIGNED
Dauda Garuba, PhD.
Director

Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD-West Africa)