African youth see military rule as a temporary solution to failed democracy – Afrobarometer

A majority of young people in Africa believe that military interventions constitute a solution to the poor governance that democracy has engendered in Africa. This is according to the latest Afrobarometer Report on Democratic Trends in Africa.

The comprehensive survey report revealed that the majority of young people think that democracy has not yielded the expected dividend in their countries and they favour military interventions to resolve the issue of bad governance.

Key evidence of the failure of democracy prompting the youth’s preference for military rule are unemployment, corruption and poor accountability on the part of leaders.

“…About 53% of Africans, are telling us that if governments are failing or abusing office, then the military should step in to clear that but at the same time, many people are also rejecting military rule, even though the numbers are declining…So what this tells us is that the military rule is being looked at as an option when civilians have failed and they’re looked at as a temporary solution, not a permanent one,” Boniface Dulani, the Director of Surveys at Afrobarometer said at the Afrobarometer Report launch in Accra Wednesday, July 17, 2024.

Mr Dulani however pointed out that youth’s view of military rule as a temporary solution to bad governance in democracies is due to the fact that many of them have not lived under military rule.

“Most of the youth have never experienced military rule; so they might be looking at it as something to try because democracy is failing. But if you’ve lived through a military regime, you might know that as bad as democracy is, it’s certainly better than that kind of government(military rule),” he noted.

For Mr Dulani, the gradual loss of faith in democratic rule must prompt leaders to act and ensure that democracy thrives and works for the people, otherwise, it can spell the end of democratic government in Africa.

“Governments should never take people for granted, because although there was an excitement for democracy in the 1990s, what we’re seeing now is that people are not happy with democracy and asking themselves questions of what democracy is really offering to them and trying to find other alternatives,” he advised.

Afrobarometer, a non-profit company limited by guarantee with headquarters in Ghana, is a pan-African, non-partisan survey research network that conducts public attitude surveys on democracy, governance, the economy, and society.

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