Dani is a PhD student, and has taught college English & tutored in multiple subjects for over three years. They have an MA in English Composition & Pedagogy and a BA in Women's Studies, Religious Studies, & Sociology, both from the University of Massachusetts Boston. They also have received awards for their academic research and teaching. Habla español & Gaeilge acu.
Coup d'Etat Definition, Types & Historical Examples
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ShowCoup d’état is a term borrowed from French, who first used the term to describe Napoleon’s coups in France. The word coup is used to describe a quick or sudden (successful) act, such as a takeover, while état refers to the state or government. The letter d is equivalent to of. In English, the term coup d’état literally means “a quick or sudden takeover of a state” (i.e., a government). The word coup, which is often used as a shortened version of the full phrase coup d’état, comes from the Latin colpus, which is borrowed from the ancient Greek word kólaphos, both of which mean “to blow or strike with a fist.” The word état comes from the Latin word status, meaning essentially the same thing as it does in English: the norm, or fixed state of things.
There is no singular cause for a coup. A coup can come from a revolt of the citizens due to their extreme dissatisfaction with the existing government. Alternatively, it can come from the military or government itself attempting to hold on to power, or it can come from another faction (either inside or outside of the government) attempting to seize power. Regardless, many types of coups are violent, and even those that are not violent are intentionally significantly disruptive. As such, governments tend to try to avoid the possibility of a coup from both domestic and foreign actors. Even as it is possible, too, for a coup to lead to a more favorable state of affairs for the populace, most historical coups are not viewed by nations favorably.
For example, Napoleon’s selfish seizure of power became the cause of a coup. Napoleon was not trying to better the nation of France exactly; instead, he wanted power to himself as the emperor. Prior to that, the French people had their own revolutionary coup and seized power for the people. Following Napoleon’s autocratic actions, the people once again had to stage a coup; this event has been called the July Revolution.
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Other circumstances that have led to coups and attempted coups can be seen throughout history. During recent coups in many parts of Africa, for example, the military and other groups have engaged in coups and attempted coups due to their belief that the government is corrupt or causing poverty or other unfavorable conditions for the people.
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There are many different types of coups, and they are not mutually exclusive. In other words, a coup could fall into more than one of these categories. The types of coups discussed below—military, palace, judicial, and putsch—are merely four of the more well-known types. Some other notable forms of coups include:
- The auto-coup, where an existing leader attempts to hold or expand their power;
- The counter-coup, where a new government that gained power by a coup is removed, usually by the prior leaders, by another coup; and
- The foreign-backed coup, where a foreign government, usually with domestic allies, overthrows the current government.
Military Coup
In many forms of the coup d’état, the military of the nation has a degree of involvement. In fact, the military is involved in an estimated 96 percent of coup attempts. Only half of military-backed coups succeed, while 70 percent of non-military coups succeed.
Coups with a large degree of overt military involvement are labeled as a military coups; in a military coup, the military seizes control of the government.
There are two relatively common types of military coups: guardian coups and veto coups.
- Guardian coup: When a country becomes, in the eyes of the military, corrupt or inefficient in some way, the military may opt to instigate a coup. Oftentimes, the military will paint the guardian coup as a temporary but necessary shift in power.
- Veto coup: The military takes over in a swift and brutal rejection of some element of the political system, most often a new leader.
Palace Coup
Many governments are divided among multiple groups. When a section of the government, such as the leader’s cabinet, orchestrates a coup, it is called a palace coup. As the name suggests, these kinds of coups are more common in places with a monarchy. For example, in Saudi Arabia, the crown prince Mohammed bin Nayef was confined and forced to resign his claim to power by his younger cousin Mohammed bin Salman.
Judicial Coup
In a judicial coup, legislation or other elements of a judicial portion of the government significantly alter the function of the government in order to shift the center of power. Typically, the judicial coup is without direct violent action, though there may be resistance to a judicial coup, which can lead to violence. It is akin to what is known as a constitutional coup, where the judicial system in a country shifts the constitutional rules surrounding elections in order to secure power for a particular faction of the government.
Examples of judicial coups include extending or eliminating term limits, redrawing election borders (gerrymandering) in order to favor a particular party’s win more consistently, or a candidate and/or their party disqualifying an opposition politician in a manipulative and borderline illegal manner to secure a position for their favored candidate.
Putsch
The putsch is an odd and specific form of coup. A putsch is, specifically, the attempt to overthrow a government violently, but it must be unsuccessful in order to fall into this category.
The term putsch comes from Swiss-German, referring first to the attempted overthrow of the liberal government of Zürich by rural, radical conservatives. It is derived from the standard German word aufputschen, which means “to incite/excite.”
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The term became more popular in Germany later in the 1920s: the Kapp Putsch, Küstrin Putsch, and the Beer Hall Putsch attempted to overthrow the German government to install autocratic leadership. The last of these, the Beer Hall Putsch, was the attempted coup that led to Adolf Hitler’s arrest and his writing of Mein Kampf. The failed coup and his arrest also changed Hitler’s strategy to gain power: rather than go about violent means again, he decided to instead operate through strictly legal avenues in order to gain power. Obviously, this change of approach worked out in his favor but with disastrous, global consequences.
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One of the earliest coups in recorded history was in 1799 when Napoleon Bonaparte took over the French government. Napoleon replaced the short-lived French Directory and installed himself as the leader in a three-person consulate (in which he really held all of the power). He became an overt dictator, declaring himself emperor in 1804.
Some more recent examples of successful and attempted coups include those in:
- Myanmar in 2021: Myanmar gained independence in 1948, and its military took over through a coup in 1962. Following protests and the drafting of a new constitution, the people were set to begin to rule their own government beginning in 2010. In 2020, the party of the military—Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP)—lost a great number of seats to the party of noted dissident Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD). The USDP claimed the election was fraudulent and, during the first scheduled meeting of parliament on February 1, 2021, the military detained Aung San Suu Kyi and other leaders of NLD. Retired military officer Myint Swe became acting president and declared a state of emergency which granted the military control of the country.
- United States of America in 2021: While politically debated, it is widely argued that the January 6th mob that attacked the Capitol of the US was attempting a coup. During the process to certify the results of the 2020 election, in which then-President Donald Trump was voted out of office in favor of President Joe Biden, a mob of armed and unarmed supporters of Donald Trump marched to the Capitol building and entered in an attempt to stop the certification. The group had the apparent goals of harming not only politicians they viewed as anti-Trump, but also then-Vice President Mike Pence, who ran for office with Trump. Their apparent goal was to disrupt the certification of what they saw as a fraudulent election and keep Trump in power.
Since 1945, some countries have undergone several successful coups. The countries with the highest number of successful coup attempts from 1945 to 2022 are:
- Bolivia (16)
- Haiti (15)
- Syria (13)
- Thailand (11)
- Argentina (9)
On the other end of the spectrum, there are several countries that have seen no successful coups since 1945. These include (but are not limited to):
- Armenia
- Jamaica
- Kenya
- Mexico
- Ukraine
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The coup d’état, or coup, is a sudden shift in political power toward one person or one party. The phrase comes from French, popularized following Napoleon’s coup in 1799. There are many types of coups, and some of them overlap. For example, while a military coup is considered its own form, the military of a country is typically involved in a coup regardless of its other characteristics: 96 percent of coups involve the military as part of the effort. A strictly military coup, however, can start for many different reasons, but it is most commonly a guardian coup (where the military takes over “temporarily” to secure the state) or a veto coup (where the military blocks political changes by taking power).
Other common forms of coups include the palace coup, the judicial coup, and the putsch. The palace coup, which happens most commonly in monarchies, involves the seizure of power by one faction of the ruling group from another. The judicial coup is when power is taken in a somewhat or outright legal manner through changes to things like term limitations. Finally, the putsch is an attempted coup by violent means. The word putsch is Swiss-German, first used to refer to the 1839 Zürich attempted coup. It was later used to describe many German attempted coups, including Hitler’s infamous Beer Hall Putsch, which landed him in prison.
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What does coup d'etat mean?
Coup d'etat is French. "Coup" means a quick/sudden (successful) act to take over; "d'etat" means "of the state." So, coup d'etat literally means "a quick/sudden takeover of the state."
Why is it called a coup d'etat?
The phrase "coup d'etat" is French for a quick/sudden take over of a state. The French phrase has become popular because Napoleon (a French emperor in the early 1800s) is considered to have enacted one the most well-known coups in history.
What is an example of a coup d'etat?
One example is Napoleon's famous coup in 1799. Napoleon convinced the French government to allow him to rule with two other leaders, but crowned himself sole emperor in 1804.
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