BURKIna faso
Burkina Faso’s power transitions and policies stand out for three coups and two attempts in less than 10 years. After 27 years in office, former President Blaise Compaoré was ousted in a military coup d’etat. In a successful transition, Burkina Faso managed to hold elections for two cycles. However, the instability caused by jihadist insurgencies in the country prompted two coups in 2022.
International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA).
Editor’s Note
Burkina Faso was not Burkina Faso until 1984. The French used to call the territory Upper Volta. What happened? Thomas Sankara happened.
Appointed as Prime Minister in 1983, Sankara is notable for his social, ecological, and economic reforms, including famine prevention, agricultural expansion, land reform, and suspending rural poll taxes, as well as a nationwide literacy campaign and vaccination programs. His government also focused on building schools, and infrastructure projects. He combatted the desertification of the Sahel by planting more than 10 million trees. Socially, his government enforced the prohibition of female genital mutilation and forced marriages. All of that while maintaining a strong anti-imperialist policy.
In 1987, Sankara was killed in a coup d’etat. The same one that prompted Blaise Compaoré’s rise to power, who happens to be a close ally to Paris. There is heavy discourse surrounding Sankara’s death, but it is not impossible to suggest French intervention in Burkina Faso, as the Compaoré government happened to be pro-France.
(Un)fortunately, a man can only re-elect himself four times before inciting people’s anger. The 2014 Burkina Faso uprising is a prime example of popular reactions being vital for policy change. The coup that followed managed to oust Compaoré and hold elections. This could have been Burkina Faso’s happy ending, an opportunity to make Sankara’s vision come true.
Kabore’s government shows how bad policymaking can kill a young democracy. The poor dealing of the jihadist insurgencies in the country allowed military leaders to market themselves as an anti-France transitional government, taking power.
Even though some of the policies instated by the current junta are fairly good, it is hard to defend a government that openly said that it does not plan to hold elections for the next five years. The question that I pose: is this transition becoming the new normal?
