Unsuccessful Coups

In order to determine if there is a relationship between foreign aid and African coup susceptibility, one must first operationalize these variables as measurements. With regard to the coup d’état, successful coups must first be distinguished from unsuccessful coups and plotted coups (Lunde 1991). According to Jackman (1978), a successful coup occurs when the incumbent political regime is spontaneously and illegally replaced by an insurgent group, usually without physically participating in the displacement itself. Furthermore, for a coup to be considered successful, it must last at least one week. An unsuccessful coup occurs when a physical attempt is made to replace the present regime, but the coup fails because it lasts less than one week. Additionally, plotted coups occur when the present incumbent government discovers a plan to overthrow their regime by violence. Though the latter two categories of coups usually fail to manifest anything …show more content…
For example, Ethiopian dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam used major foreign aid funds for famine relief to forcefully move “peasants” from one region to the other. Additionally, the dictator purposefully denied the most famished areas of the country relief to literally starve any potential political opponents. Other countries such as the Congo have also used aid that was supposed to go to food supplies for political gain such as purchasing arms from Italy. Like failed economic projects hosted by other countries, the mismanagement and corruption that Africa faces as the result of the foreign aid can produce political agitation and instability. If people do not have food to eat or a way to earn money, seeing the government at the root of this hardship can produce political upheaval. In doing so, the military or the people might take the opportunity to overthrow the government in a time of governmental