Best regards, Andrew Stewart
Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <[email protected]> > Date: February 11, 2021 at 7:58:12 AM EST > To: [email protected] > Cc: H-Net Staff <[email protected]> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-War]: Mocheregwa on Harkness, 'When Soldiers Rebel: > Ethnic Armies and Political Instability in Africa' > Reply-To: [email protected] > > Kristen A. Harkness. When Soldiers Rebel: Ethnic Armies and > Political Instability in Africa. Cambridge Cambridge University > Press. Illustrations, tables. 278 pp. $100.00 (cloth), ISBN > 978-1-108-42247-5. > > Reviewed by Bafumiki Mocheregwa (University of Calgary) > Published on H-War (February, 2021) > Commissioned by Margaret Sankey > > The main argument of Kristen A. Harkness's study centers on the > tendency of African militaries to have deep-rooted institutions of > recruiting personnel along ethnic lines. Ethnic patronage in > militaries is difficult to dismantle and has resulted in coups across > the continent. "Focusing on the narrow empirical context of African > militaries and when soldiers rebel against the state on ethnic > grounds, I argue that when leaders attempt to build ethnic armies, or > dismantle those created by their predecessors, they provoke violent > resistance from military officers" (p. 10). This is the premise from > which Harkness's thoughtful work on the shape and identity of > ethnically charged militaries in sub-Saharan Africa departs. She > provides a refreshing view of how these heavily ingrained > institutions have been an obstacle to democratization in Africa. > > In her view, different ethnic groups that make up the majority of > militaries tend to rebel or launch coups whenever they feel > threatened by efforts to implement democratic models. This line of > thinking rightly builds on earlier work by Lars-Erik Cederman, > Kristina Skrede-Gledistch, and Halvard Bahaug, which argues that > coups are likely to be initiated by those who were recently deposed. > > Harkness's dealing with colonial military practices in chapter 1 is a > fundamental departure point for this book. It provides a thorough > contextual and historical background for the many instances of coups > in Africa since the independence era. She rightly points out that the > culture of ethnically biased militaries is a colonial construct that > created "a ready model for ensuring loyalty through racial and ethnic > manipulations" (p. 38). Harkness uses various examples to illustrate > that the recruitment and promotion practices within colonial forces > fostered the idea that ethnic patronage, which continued in the > postcolonial era, was a normal occurrence. > > In chapter 2, Harkness uses original statistical data to provide > descriptive evidence of the argument that coups in Africa, > particularly following attempts at democratization, were the result > of attempts to dismantle long-standing ethnic privilege within > militaries. Ethnically biased militaries, according to Harkness, > rebelled by a margin of 66.7-72.2 percent of the time whenever a new > political leader who did not share the same ethnic lineage was > installed by electoral processes. This case-by-case empirical > analysis of leadership changes between 1950 and 2012 provides a clear > pattern of the causes of political instability. Countries where > political leaders chose to establish ethnically stacked armies > experienced three times more coup attempts than other nations. > > Chapters 3 and 4 take the argument further by comparing political > instability from countries with ethnically stacked armies Cameroon > and Sierra Leone versus Senegal and Ghana, both of which tried to > establish inclusive militaries following independence. Unlike Ghana, > which still suffered a series of coups despite Kwame Nkrumah's > attempts to build an ethnically diverse military after independence, > Senegal fared significantly better. Harkness sees Leopold Senghor's > efforts at balancing the ethnic composition of the army and Senegal's > long history of ethnic inclusivity that fostered a stable political > climate in the country as key to Senegal's situation. > > _When Soldiers Rebel_ would best serve students interested in African > studies and African military history. Because of its empirical > nature, those taking political science or studying civil-military > relations in Africa might also find it incredibly useful. Perhaps the > only limitation of the book is the narrow scope of the case studies > as there are more examples to argue that indeed most of the political > instability in postcolonial Africa is the result of ethnically > stacked militaries. In the early chapters of the book, she rightly > points out examples of coups in Uganda under Milton Obote and later > Idi Amin but does not expand on these as she does for the West > African cases studies. A much more nuanced analysis on this would > have strengthened and widened the focus of the book. However, this > small issue should not take away from the fact that this is an > excellent and highly welcomed addition to the literature of > democratization across postcolonial Africa. It is a great > contribution to the discussion around the roles played by militaries > in undoing the democratic processes in some African states. > > The style and structure of the book are also clear and concise, which > make the book easy to understand. Harkness should be given credit for > the balance of primary and secondary sources as well as the various > databases she cross-referenced when conducting this study. The result > is a coherent and well put together historical narrative and, to an > extent, a cautionary tale about the nature of some postcolonial > militaries in Africa. > > Citation: Bafumiki Mocheregwa. Review of Harkness, Kristen A., _When > Soldiers Rebel: Ethnic Armies and Political Instability in Africa_. > H-War, H-Net Reviews. February, 2021. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=55200 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#6291): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/6291 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/80561855/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
