By all indications, Guinea has pulled back from the edge of what some warned could have been a bloody internal power struggle among various factions in the military junta now ruling the country. Interestingly, the exit strategy, at least in its first steps, resembles a game of “hot potato” — devolving power to the civilian opposition, rather than contesting it, at the risk of civil war, within the military.
That reflects a certain degree of wisdom, but also the effective international response to the crisis so far — a combination of pressure from regional and global multinational groupings as well as from the U.S. and France, combined with the heat of the media spotlight. This could simply turn into another “frozen solution,” of the sort we see more frequently these days (Zimbabwe, Kenya, Madagascar). But for now, it looks like a win for the global governance system.