EDITORS’ INTRODUCTION Reassessing Africa’s New Post-Coup Landscape Between 2020 and 2022, sub-Saharan Africa witnessed a substantial increase in the number of military coups. The military interventions in Guinea (September 2021), Mali (August 2020 and May 2021), Chad (April 2021), Sudan (April 2019 and October 2021), and Burkina Faso (January 2022) contributed to democratic backsliding and authoritarianism on the conti- nent. In addition, Niger (March 2021) and Guinea Bissau (February 2022) saw failed coup attempts. As a result of these five coups and two failed coup attempts, media reports now ask whether coups are making a comeback in Africa. As the extant literature about civil-military relations in Africa reveals, military coups were never absent. But the recent number and frequency of coups has led to a greater awareness of the threat that militaries pose to civilian rulers from the Atlantic coast (Guinea) to the Red Sea (Sudan). Over the last decade, several scholars have discussed the potential of military coups to initiate or facilitate democratization processes. For this to occur, military coups must usher in competitive elections and handover to democratically elected leaders within a given timeframe. Juntas need to outline and commit to electoral calendars, allow for multiparty contests, refrain from electoral rigging, and, at the appropriate time, vacate the seats of power. If juntas decide to remain in power through rigged elections or by postponing elections indefinitely, coups give rise to authoritarian govern- ments. This editorial examines the emergence of the post-coup political land- scapes in Guinea, Mali, Chad, Burkina Faso, and Sudan on the basis of publicly available information. In all of these countries, military juntas sus- pended the constitution and dissolved the national legislature. Transitional charters regulate the exercise of power and summarize the procedures that will guide the drafting of new constitutions. All of the juntas have expressed their commitment to return the country to constitutional rule, yet questions African Studies Review, Volume 65, Number 1 (March 2022), pp. 1–7 © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the African Studies Association. doi:10.1017/asr.2022.33 1