What is "sankarism"

Sankarism (also written Sankaraism) is a term sometimes applied to denote a left-wing ideological trend within the political milieu of Burkina Faso, a landlocked country in West Africa, as well as the policies of the military regime led by Captain Thomas Sankara. Sankara came to power in what was then the Republic of Upper Volta in a 1983 military coup, and ruled until his assassination in a coup orchestrated by Blaise Compaoré in 1987.

There is a strong political dissonance between the movements which ascribe to Sankara's political legacy and ideals, a fact which the Burkinabé opposition politician Bénéwendé Stanislas Sankara – no relation – described in 2001 as being "due to a lack of definition of the concept." The Sankarists range from communists and more moderate socialists to social democrats and populists.