Tensions and protests in a semi-authoritarian regime: Increasing popular uprisings and the endurance of the regime in Burkina Faso

In 2011, after the election of Compaore for the fourth time in a row, Burkina Faso was hit by an unprecedented wave of protests. How can one explain both the magnitude of these uprisings and how the regime has managed to stay in power? In order to address this apparently paradoxical growth of popular protests and the simultaneous weakness of the political opposition, this paper first explores some key elements and social divisions that structure the political and social space in the country. This exploration covers the role of the main actors of the crisis: the army, the ruling party, the chieftaincy, the political opposition, and the civil society associations. The second part of the article outlines a political sociology of Burkina Faso. To do so, it first draws attention to a set of tensions related to the semi-authoritarian nature of the regime. It then highlights the two main dividing lines that explain the mixed results of the protests.