UCF Expert Sheds Light on Guinea’s Coup

When gunfire erupted in the Guinean capital of Conakry on the morning of September 5, it was clear elements of the country’s armed forces had attempted a coup. Though initial statements from the government pushed the idea that the coup had failed, the conspirators managed to overwhelm loyalists and arrest President Alpha Condé. Special forces Colonel Mamady Doumbouya soon confirmed Condé’s ouster and announced the creation of the National Committee of Reconciliation and Development.

Coverage of Guinea’s coup has widely incorporated research from SPSIA Associate Professor Jonathan Powell, Ph.D. The BBC uses Powell’s data to ask whether 2021 is witnessing a resurgence in military coups, while the Senegalese daily Sud Quotidien has used Powell’s data to point to the coup as a major challenge to West Africa. Professor Powell discussed this uptick, and dynamics behind these recent events, in interviews with Spain’s La Vanguardia, Germany’s Spiegel, and Nigeria’s The Backstory. Earlier this year, his research was referenced at The Washington Post and Council On Foreign Relations regarding Myanmar’s coup, BBC-Afrique on the most recent coup in Mali, and various international outlets on the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Powell received his Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky and has been at UCF since 2014. He is especially interested in civil-military relations, with regional interests in Africa and the Middle East.  He’s always looking for students interested in research, in recent years Powell has published with UCF students at J of Global Security Studies, Conflict Management and Peace Science, Foreign Policy Analysis, African Affairs, and African Security.