Military Intervention In Politics

   
The military has become an importance  factors in the third world countries, especially Africa. prior to 1966, any discussion on African politics  could have hardly mentioned the military. But after this period, it becomes difficult to fully discuss or analyze African politics without a prominent place being accorded to the military. Apart  from a few countries, almost every country in the continent has witnessed either a military coup or has been threatened by one.

Military intervention is the same thing as military involvement in politics. Generally, there is no state
in the world where the military is not involved in politics, like defense against external aggression and suppression of internal insurrection. However, these are functional roles, and the military can
undertake them only when told to do so by the political regime. When the military assume formal
 political  power, then we talk of military intervention. Feit (1973) describes military intervention in
a country's political process thus: "in the simplest sense, a country is under military rule when (military) officers have seized power and made themselves politically supreme. Such power may be overt... (as when) the generals and colonials make themselves official rulers, or it may be convert, when real dominance by (military) officers is marked by civilian puppets."this process of intervention
disrupts the democratic governments of many states where this intervention take place as captured
by finer. Finer (1962) sees military intervention in politics as a disruption of the structures of civilian
authority and constitutional procedures."this intervention contradicts the Gilmore's understanding of
the role of the military in any given society. According to Gilmore (1964), "the military institution is
concerned with the management and use of controlled violence in the service of the state."
the military's first incursion into politics in Nigeria in January, 1966 was helped by factors such as the weakness of the civil society, gross failure of civilian governance, distortion of the political economy,
weak social institutions and the intense struggle for political power by civilian political elites.
This brings us to factors responsible for military intervention in politics.