According to the 1991 Constitution of Burkina Faso, the politics of Burkina Faso take place in the form of a semi-presidential republic, with powers separated between the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The President of Burkina Faso, who has historically established the majority of Burkinabé policy, is the head of state.Center for Democratic Governance. Burkina Faso: A Study of Political, Social, and Economic Power Structures and Relations. Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), 2004. https://cdn.sida.se/publications/files/sida3885en-burkina-faso-a-study-of-political-social-and-economic-power-structures-and-relations.pdf. Accessed 1 May 2025. Also under the executive branch is a prime minister and a cabinet, the Council of Ministers. The president-appointed Prime Minister of Burkina Faso is the head of government under a multi-party system.
The legislative branch includes a unicameral parliament, the National Assembly, which passes laws and monitors government actions. The judicial branch includes at its base Tribunals of First Instance, then Courts of Appeal, and at the top the Supreme Court with four chambers—constitutional, administrative, judicial, and financial. This branch is the weakest and least-independent in Burkina Faso because of inadequate human, budgetary, and logistical resources in addition to the president, as the President of the High Council of the Magistracy, having power over key appointments.International Commission of Jurists. Attacks on Justice – Burkina Faso 2000. Geneva: International Commission of Jurists, 2000. Available at: https://www.icj.org/wp-content/uploads/2001/08/burkinafaso_attacks_justice_2000.pdf (accessed May 2, 2025).Africanews. "Burkina Faso junta extends its transition term by 5 years." Africanews, 26 May 2024. Available at: https://www.africanews.com/2024/05/26/burkina-faso-junta-extends-its-transition-term-by-5-years/ (Accessed 2 May 2025).
Throughout Burkina Faso's history, the military has played an integral role in politics, and the country is currently under Ibrahim Traoré, a military captain. The Burkinabé government has experienced 11 successful military coups d'étatCline Center for Advanced Social Research. Frequency of Coup Events from 1945 to 2024, by Country. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Available at: https://clinecenter.illinois.edu/project/research-themes/democracy-and-development/coup-detat-project/freq-table (Accessed 3 May 2025). because of weak civilian institutions, insecurity, and widespread frustration with ineffective governance.Guissou, Basile. "Militaires et militarisme en Afrique: cas du Burkina Faso." Afrique Contemporaine, no. 228, 2008, pp. 79–92. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/43658378. Accessed 3 May 2025. After coups and during transition periods, the Constitution is largely ignored, giving unchecked authority to the head of state. After an internal coup ousted Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, the previous military head of state, a new transitional charter was adopted that named Traoré the transitional president. The coup was primarily orchestrated because Damiba ineffectively handled rising jihadist influence and attacks, which have killed thousands and displaced more than two million.Engels, Bettina. "The Crisis in Burkina Faso and the Coup Belt." Zeitschrift für Außen- und Sicherheitspolitik, vol. 18, no. 1, Feb. 2025, pp. 13–23. Available at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12399-025-01022-z (Accessed 3 May 2025).
Burkina Faso under Ibrahim Traoré
As the leader of the Patriotic Movement for Safeguard and Restoration (MPSR), Ibrahim Traoré has proven himself to be a controversial yet serious leader. He has been the interim president of Burkina Faso since September 2022. Similar to previous military leaders, Traoré has maintained popular support by utilizing nationalist rhetoric and by growing Burkina Faso's economy; the country's GDP has grown from $18.8 billion to $22.1 billion under him.Yennah, F.M. Burkina Faso: No Peace, No Rest. Date. ResearchGate. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/391321147_Burkina_Faso_No_Peace_No_Rest (Accessed 3 May 2025). Traoré has made steps toward curbing jihadist intrusion by significantly increasing the membership of the Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP) by nearly 100,000 members.Engels, Bettina. "The Crisis in Burkina Faso and the Coup Belt." Zeitschrift für Außen- und Sicherheitspolitik, vol. 18, no. 1, Feb. 2025, pp. 13–23. Available at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12399-025-01022-z (Accessed 3 May 2025).
Traoré is a strong verbal opponent of neocolonialism and Western domination and has sought economic self-sufficiency in Burkina Faso, prioritizing agricultural and industrial reforms. He has shifted Burkinabé foreign policy. The country no longer receives economic and military support from former colonizer France, who previously sent large amounts of foreign aid and maintained a large military presence in Burkina Faso. Instead, Traoré has furthered an alliance with Russia.
Ibrahim Traoré has received much criticism internationally and from some Burkinabé, largely because of his disregard for the democratic principles outlined in Burkina Faso's Constitution. When Traoré became the interim president in September 2022 following the coup of Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, a transition phase was in effect. In July 2024, elections were supposed to be held to form a civilian government, but Traoré announced that his government would extend the transition by 60 months.
Traoré has suppressed speech by media organizations, trade unions, and civil society groups. This has primarily been done to individuals and groups critical of his military rule and coups in the Sahel as well as those critical of the Burkinabé army and its abuses against civilians. Burkinabé media organizations—like Radio Oméga, Burkina Faso's most important independent radio station—that have platformed these individuals and groups have faced temporary suspensions. Individuals strongly opposed to Traoré have been abducted and conscripted to the state security forces and the VDP. Despite Traoré not upholding Burkina Faso's Constitution, he is popular among Burkinabé, especially from youth and nationalists.
Post-colonial political history
Burkina Faso (then Upper Volta) became formally independent from French rule in 1960. Maurice Yaméogo, who was elected president in December 1959, presided over Burkina Faso's newly independent government. The country was under a unitary constitution, with power centralized in the national government. Despite Yaméogo being an anti-colonial leader, he did not make significant strides towards alleviating the political, social, and economic legacies of colonialism.
Minimal modifications were made to the state structures that remained from the colonial state. Yaméogo attempted to make Burkina Faso a one-party state under the Voltatic Democratic Union-African Democratic Rally (UDV-RDA), which is what caused his eventual fall from power.Engberg-Pedersen, L. (2003). Endangering development : politics, projects, and environment in Burkina Faso. Praeger. After years of austerity and nepotistic political appointments, civilians wanted Yaméogo to be replaced.
While strength in opposition to Yaméogo grew, so did the Burkinabé military: the end to French occupation brought increasing national autonomy, which included military autonomy. The military positioned itself as a neutral force in the midst of political unrest. The army grew as an autonomous unit after Yaméogo rejected French support for it, in turn causing the army to develop as a nationally oriented institution.Guissou, Basile. "Militaires et militarisme en Afrique: cas du Burkina Faso." Afrique Contemporaine, no. 228, 2008, pp. 79–92. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/43658378. Accessed 3 May 2025.
Many members of the army were veterans of colonial wars who experienced repression under French rule. By 1966, when protests erupted over austerity and repression, the army, and especially Lieutenant-Colonel Sangoulé Lamizana, refused to suppress demonstrations and supported civilian opposition to Yaméogo. Lamizana arrested Yaméogo in a coup d'état, declaring himself the head of state in 1966 with widespread support from Burkinabé.Williamson, Bryan J. "From Upper Volta to Burkina Faso: A Study of the Politics of Reaction and Reform in a Post-Colonial African Nation-state, 1960-1987." (2013).
Sangoulé Lamizana was the first of many coup leaders in Burkina Faso to successfully gain power. Because Yaméogo was despised throughout Burkina Faso, Lamizana made the military popular.Gutierrez, Vincent. "Understanding Geopolitics from a Historical Perspective: The Burkina Faso Revolution, 1983-1987." The Toro Historical Review 5.1 (2018). He played an integral role in establishing military culture in Burkina Faso by promoting it as a stabilizing and unifying force. Lamizana suspended the constitution and dissolved the National Assembly, eventually replacing the constitution and attempting to shift to civilian rule in 1970.
A civilian government was elected, but after a power struggle ensued between Speaker of the Parliament Joseph Ouédraogo and Prime Minister Gérard Kango Ouédraogo, Lamizana re-established military rule. Throughout Lamizana's rule, he would temporarily allow limited political activity but eventually suppress this activity when he deemed it to be getting out of hand.Ciment, James (ed.). Encyclopedia of Conflicts Since World War II. 2nd ed., Armonk, NY: Sharpe Reference, 2006. His most prominent opponents were French-educated left-wing intellectuals and trade union organizers, but his eventual demise came as a result of another military coup.
As a response to the Lamizana government's continued failure to deal with strikes and food shortages, Saye Zerbo, who was a trained military leader, mounted a coup in 1980 that overthrew Lamizana.Brockman, N.C. (2006). "Zerbo, Sayé." An African Biographical Dictionary (2nd ed.). Grey House Publishing. Zerbo eradicated the constitution enacted by Lamizana and instead ruled through a thirty-one-member Military Committee for Recovering National Progress (CMRPN). The military committee included future presidents Thomas Sankara and Blaise Compaoré, showing how the political leadership of Burkina Faso has historically been influenced by military connections. Similar to previous Burkinabé heads of state, Zerbo's administration was corrupt and did not provide social improvements for the people of Burkina Faso. Zerbo was accused of embezzling £28 million (well over US$100 million in current inflation-adjusted value) from government funds.
A coup orchestrated by the Conseil de Salut du People (CSP), led by Colonel Gabriel Yoryan Somé, overthrew the Saye Zerbo regime and appointed Surgeon Major Jean Baptiste Ouédraogo the head of state. Ouédraogo later appointed Thomas Sankara prime minister in January 1983. Mere months later, in May 1983, President Ouédraogo removed pro-Libyan and anti-French elements from the Burkinabé government and disbanded the CSP. This greatly upset radicals in Burkina Faso, leading to his regime to be overthrown in August by the National Council for the Revolution (CNR). He was replaced by his former prime minister, Thomas Sankara.