Reasons for the increasing influence of the army on the political process in Africa

The army, as one of the fundamental institutions of society, has a serious impact on its functioning and structure. This is especially true in developing countries, which are characterized by political instability and weakness of state civil structures. Until now, in many African countries, direct military dictatorships or military regimes remain, or in conditions of political instability there remains a danger of the latter coming to power. Even despite the end of the Cold War and the past waves of democratization of states, five regimes of military dictatorships still remain in Africa. The military has still a serious influence on politics in Arab North Africa. This is also aggravated by the foreign political instability of the region: civil wars and the problem of international Islamic terrorism. The paper analyzes the reasons for the increasing influence of military power on African societies from the historical perspectives, and also try to deduce the patterns of this process for Africa. The authors consider that the rise to power of military-bureaucratic regimes is a natural element of the process of state building in African countries. To prove this, the authors study the modern mili-tocratic regimes in Africa and compare them with military dictatorships in other regions. In order to analyze the process of state building and the degree of participation of the military in it (both in general in theory and in regional practice), the paper refers to the work of Ch. Tilly "Coercion, Capital and European States", as well as to other sources.