Go to AfricaBib home

Go to AfricaBib home Africana Periodical Literature Go to database home

bibliographic database
Line
Previous page New search

The free AfricaBib App for Android is available here

Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Burkina Faso: the fall of Blaise Compaoré
Authors:Frère, Marie SoleilISNI
Englebert, PierreISNI
Year:2015
Periodical:African Affairs: The Journal of the Royal African Society (ISSN 1468-2621)
Volume:114
Issue:455
Pages:295-307
Language:English
Geographic term:Burkina Faso
Subjects:heads of State
rebellions
political conditions
About person:Blaise Compaore (1951-)ISNI
External link:http://afraf.oxfordjournals.org/content/114/455/295.short
Abstract:President Blaise Compaoré resigned and fled Burkina Faso on 31 October 2014 under the sustained assault of a coalition of youth, cultural leaders, civil society organizations and opposition parties, and after the defection of core segments of his military. This briefing first discusses the actual sequence of events that led to the transition. The authors then identify some deeper trends that weakened the regime, including the dilemma of succession in a semi-authoritarian regime, the rise of youth and cultural elites as opposition actors who placed themselves beyond the reach of regime co-optation, and the use of Sankara imagery as a tool of mobilization. They then jointly analyse two features of the transition and the current regime of Lt-Col Isaac Yacouba Zida who, despite being only primeminister, appears to be the country's new strongman. The first is the relative institutional uncertainty that accompanied the fall of the Compaoré regime and which continues to hamper the transition. The second is the enduring role of the military in Burkinabè politics. The article concludes by singling out some implications of the transition and the challenges ahead. Notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract]
Views
Cover