A Study of Military Interventions in Sudan: Focusing on three Coups from 1956 to 1989

Abstract

This research aims to identify the fundamental reasons that prevented the establishment of a democratic system in Sudan since its independence in 1956 to the present day. The main feature of Sudanese political scene is a succession of military coups (1958, 1969, and 1989) which influenced the democratic process. The paper will thus attempt to address the main economic and political factors that led to these coups through a descriptive and analytical approach of these factors. As the political history of Sudan has been marked by racial and civil wars, this research will analyze, under the light of both democracy theory and military coups theory, the succession of events and try to identify the underlying reasons behind the lack of opportunity for a steady implementation of the democratic process and the resurgence of military coups. As a conclusion, the research will try to explain how the transformation of the various religious communities into political parties, and the subsequent conflicts between them for a consensual power, which they failed to obtain through regular elections, allowed the military leaders and the army to plot and overthrow the coalition governments at three occasions (1958, 1969, 1989), resulting in the absence of a stable economic system and protection of the democratic process.