Extended stay: Factors contributing to success or failure when African presidents attempt to amend constitutions to hold on to power
Masters thesis — Naval Postgraduate School, 2017. Full text: https://archive.org/details/extendedstayfact1094555510
Arguments
Extended stay: Factors contributing to success or failure when African presidents attempt to amend constitutions to hold on to power
It's the mechanism behind every term-limit showdown — constitutions don't defend themselves; organized, educated citizens do.
African presidents' bids to extend their rule by amending constitutions succeed or fail on the strength of civil-society opposition — e.g., Burkina Faso's Blaise Compaoré was blocked in 2014 because pro-democracy groups (Balai Citoyen and others) mobilized urban youth with civic education on term limits, shifting the balance of social opposition from trade unions to the pro-democracy movement.
Why it matters
It's the mechanism behind every term-limit showdown — constitutions don't defend themselves; organized, educated citizens do.
Use when: Term limits survive only where someone defends them — civic education aimed at newly urban youth turned constitutional clauses into street power.