Between 1960 and 2014, there were over 70 mutinies in West and Central Africa. Dwyer argues that mutinies – defined here as an act of collective insubordination by military personnel to express grievances without intention of overthrowing the government – should be understood as a political act, an attempt by mainly rank-and-file soldiers to communicate and negotiate with both military and civil leadership.

Although mutinies usually grow out of the material grievances of soldiers, these are embedded in a broader sense of injustice that links a failure to get paid to broader corruption in the military and state. Dwyer argues that mutinies can be understood and systematically studied only if the intertwined material and moral claims made by soldiers are understood.

The book lays out a variety of conditions that make mutinies more likely. Austerity programmes are often implemented so they fall heavily on rank-and-file soldiers but not officers, increasing soldiers’ sense of grievance. Mutinies often coincide with civilian mobilisation, borrowing language and tactics from protests, although not merging with them. Incidents of mutiny are more common under democratic regimes, both because authoritarian regimes are more likely to respond with harsh repression and because democratic regimes offer a more accessible and freer media environment for the mutineers to put forward their demands. The conjunction of structural adjustment, civilian protest and liberalisation explains why coups were far more frequent in the 1990s than in the two decades prior.

One of the book's significant contributions is to explain why, contrary to the expectations of many experts, participation in international peacekeeping missions has been associated with an increase in mutinies in African countries. Shortages or delays in pay during a deployment come at the same time that soldiers in the field are being asked to put their lives at risk and occur in an environment where they can often see that soldiers from other countries are being treated better. It is this combination of domestic and international factors, moral and material, that creates an explosive situation.

In addition to this macro-level analysis, the book also includes case studies of mutinies in Gambia, Sierra Leone and Burkina Faso. These cases provide not only an event history of these mutinies but a rich description of them as well, so vivid that I could almost hear the soldiers talking. Field research of this sort is difficult and often risky; Dwyer briefly recounts how she was questioned by Gambian military intelligence because of the sensitivity of the topic.

Soldiers in Revolt performs an important service by addressing mutinies as a political phenomenon in their own right. It articulates the logic of these events, gives voice to the participants and analyses the conditions that make mutinies more likely. The book is clearly written and accessible and would be a good addition to undergraduate syllabi.