Abstract
Though Africa historically has been the site of countless military coups d'état, civil-military relations across the continent have changed dramatically in recent years. What do these changes say about the military's ongoing role in Africa's political and social institutions? How useful are conventional models for understanding civil-military relations in the African context? The authors of Rethinking Civil-Military Relations in Africa address these questions, exploring the nature and significance of evolving relationships between political authority, military power, and society.