Soldier’s Paradise: Militarism in Africa After Empire by Samuel Fury Childs Daly challenges us to take the ideology of coup leaders seriously. Coup leaders have been known for many things – boldness, patterns of repression and stylish aviator sunglasses – but, with a few notable exceptions, their ideas are not a central focus of attention. Rather, coups are often dismissed as simple power grabs for self-interest and enrichment by a small group of officers. Daly provides an alternative in which self-interest is a factor, but goals of societal change are also central. He argues that to understand the persistence of military rule in parts of Africa and at times its popular appeal, we must pay attention to what it promises. He provides this insight using a wide range of archival material, including legal documents, media reports, memoirs and photographs, from eras of military rule in former British colonies.

Daly shows that the common ideology of coup leaders is militarism. At its basic level, militarism can be seen as the ideology of the rule by soldiers. Importantly, with militarism came the promise to create a new kind of society – one based on discipline, honour and financial restraint. Their vision was presented as a bountiful, secure and well-ordered world. They often promised to upend social hierarchy and bring ethnic discord to an end. Coup leaders ‘presented themselves as the true bearers of decolonization – the ones who would deliver a second, more authentic independence that actually broke with the British way of doing things’ (p. 5). They saw an apolitical military as an idea from the colonisers. Underlying these promises of a new order was often a sense of glamour and charisma as the aesthetics of militaries was for some part of their appeal.

Of course, we know that in practice, coup leaders have broken their promises time and time again. Military leaders have often exacerbated the problems they claim they will fix and do so with brutal force. Daly does not deny this but argues convincingly that this militarism ideology shapes the actions that officers take when they come to power. Appreciating their vision of the ‘soldier’s paradise’ is vital to understanding where these regimes come from and why many last for long periods.

The book goes beyond the broad vision of militarism as espoused by military leaders to explore how it worked in practice. Daly shows that military leaders often ‘had a deep, sometimes delusional, faith in the law’ (p. 33). This is somewhat counterintuitive, given the illegal nature of coups and the ways in which military leaders are often seen as above the law. Yet, military leaders relied on courts to enact their vision and often viewed the judiciary’s focus on law and order as a natural ally. This was not the smooth partnership that the military leaders had hoped for. Still, the interactions between military leaders and the law led to unexpected alliances, new beneficiaries, alternative forms of dissent and many power struggles along the way.

Daly’s focus on the relationship between military leaders and the law in its various forms is a highly original and fascinating take on military rule. The second half of the book is a legal history focused on three legal processes under military rule: customary law, government inquiries and military tribunals for civilians. These are complemented by a chapter focused on the role of judges in militarism and the sharing of legal expertise globally across former British colonies. These chapters tell the story of the place of law in military rule through vivid examples including a focus on influential judges, key judicial decisions, popularly followed government inquiries and some of the unsuspecting civilians who tragically got caught up in notorious military tribunals. Through these examples, we see militarism in action in a wide range of contexts and its effects on individuals and wider society.

Soldier’s Paradise’s focus on coups and militarism is all too relevant in parts of the African continent over the last several years. Daly’s engaging and concise writing style makes the work accessible to students, scholars and policymakers alike. The depth of his research can be found in the extensive notes sections following each chapter. While the book is dominated by material from Nigeria, it sets the stage for others to develop comparisons in countries with other legal systems or different military trajectories. Daly’s balanced view provides a fresh perspective on military rule and one that shows that to understand militarism, we must look far beyond the barracks.