Hopefully Not Just Hazing

One of the good things to come out of the shameful Malagasy coup over the past week is news that the African Union has stepped up and suspended Madagascar pending the relegitimation of its government.

The AU gets an incredibly bad rap, mostly known for its anaemic efforts in the Darfur crisis. It's a new organisation, founded out of the Organisation for African Unity in 2002, and it's also composed of some of the worst basket-case countries the world has ever seen.

However, it does manage to regulate and organise the activities of some important institutions, like the African Development Bank, the regional equivalent of the World Bank, and it supports a lively debate on the possible benefits of economic and political integration for the chronically poor and war-torn continent. 

The point is that African states genuinely like being part of the AU, and when the AU suspends countries like Madagascar, Mauritania and Guinea(all in the hands of dictators following coups over the last year), it's a real disincentive for incoming autocrats. In 2005 following a coup in Togo, AU pressure caused Gnassingnbe Eyadema to call elections (which he then rigged and won anyways. Sigh.).

A Politic Blunder is increasingly desirous of a grading system, wanting to nominate the AU "Problematic but Progressive".