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By: Brian Kagoro & Bob Wekesa

Abstract

This paper examines unconstitutional and extra-constitutional changes of government in Africa as legal, political, and geopolitical phenomena that are frequently mischaracterised when analysed solely through domestic constitutional doctrine or conventional coup typologies. It argues that contemporary political convulsions on the continent are shaped by the interaction of external intervention, post-colonial state formation, elected authoritarianism, institutional capture, and contested regional legal norms. Focusing on the African Union’s governance architecture, the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, and the Malabo Protocol, the paper assesses the promise and limits of criminalising unconstitutional change of government while identifying unresolved tensions between constitutional order, popular resistance, the duty to disobey manifestly unlawful orders, and the right to protest unjust governance. It concludes that durable responses require a stronger supranational governance framework, harmonised legal standards, and a more coherent account of the political economy conditions that produce unconstitutional transitions.

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