The 2020-2023 Coup Wave in French Africa: A Libertarian Perspective

By Daniel Kelly

Since 2020, Africa, particularly West Africa, has experienced coups in Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Niger, and, most recently, Gabon. These coups share several common threads as well: They have all, occurred in former French colonies, all were against regimes that were part of the neo-colonial Francafrique [1], all have gained significant popular support by playing into anti-French sentiment, and most unsurprisingly all have occurred during times of political turmoil. These coups also share several differences For instance: the coups in Mali and Burkina Faso occurred due to the inability of their civilian governments to contain an Islamist insurgency, while Gabon’s coup was caused by a disputed Presidential election. There is still a clear pattern.

Now we must ask what this all means to us Libertarians. To be frank, our position on these coups needs to be one of critical support. While these coups are in no way Libertarian in nature, they do serve an important purpose in breaking down the last remnants of the Francafrique, a semi-secret empire that has brutally and systemically exploited the peoples of these countries for the benefit of the French elite. Under the Francafrique, the pre-coup governments of these nations granted massive privileges to politically connected French corporations, particularly in terms of access to natural resources, and paid massive bribes to French politicians. In exchange, the French ensured they stayed in power, but now the coups have ended this arrangement.

Now let me be clear, the new Juntas that have swept into power because of these coups are not going to be significantly better than the regimes they overthrew. Yet they still have one thing going for them: they show neocolonial influence in Africa is weakening. Just 15 years ago this level of open anti-colonial action would have been unthinkable, yet now we are seeing a near full-scale collapse of French influence. It is for that reason alone worthy of support and celebration.

But of course, we cannot ignore the bear in the room: Russia. Russia has had some role in backing the coups or at least taking advantage of them and has been quick to provide the Juntas with weapons and mercenaries [2]. This has led to concerns that Russia may be trying to create a Russian version of the Francafrique, but this is unlikely for one major reason: Russia is indefinitely trapped in a stalemated war in Ukraine. This prevents Russia from deploying the same level of resources to further a neo-colonial project in Africa as the French were once able to.

In the end, Libertarians should be able to see that while the recent coups are hardly ideal, they have at least been effective in combating imperialism (the highest form of Statism).

 [1] https://newafricanmagazine.com/16585/

[2] https://news.yahoo.com/isolated-west-russia-looks-africa-124306693.html