ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts covered in the preceding chapters of this book. The book shows that, with the exception of South Africa, sub-Saharan Africa has not demonstrated a capability to field a modem military force and that it is impossible to tell with any precision whether military capabilities have increased or decreased since independence. More than half of the states in sub-Saharan Africa have experienced successful coups d'état since the first intervention in Sudan in 1958, and some with depressing regularity. Roughly three-fourths of the African population lives under military rule today, one-quarter in Nigeria alone. The book examines the politicization of the military has had a deep impact on the structure and performance of African armies, and it is this aspect of the relationship. A common theme running throughout the chapters is the extent to which intervention in the political arena has taken its toll on military professionalism.
