63-542: A coup d'état ( / ˌ k uː d eɪ ˈ t ɑː / ; French: [ku deta] ; lit. ' stroke of state ' ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is when a leader, having come to power through legal means, tries to stay in power through illegal means. By one estimate, there were 457 coup attempts from 1950 to 2010, half of which were successful. Most coup attempts occurred in
126-652: A pronunciamiento , in which the military deposes the existing government and hands over power to a new, ostensibly civilian government. A "barracks revolt" or cuartelazo is another type of military revolt, from the Spanish term cuartel ('quarter' or 'barracks'), in which the mutiny of specific military garrisons sparks a larger military revolt against the government. Other types of actual or attempted seizures of power are sometimes called "coups with adjectives". The appropriate term can be subjective and carries normative, analytical, and political implications. While
189-418: A quorum . Some of the responsibilities of a legislature, such as giving first consideration to newly proposed legislation, are usually delegated to committees made up of a few of the members of the chamber(s). The members of a legislature usually represent different political parties ; the members from each party generally meet as a caucus to organize their internal affairs. Legislatures vary widely in
252-613: A coup is usually a conspiracy of a small group, a revolution or rebellion is usually started spontaneously by larger groups of uncoordinated people. The distinction between a revolution and a coup is not always clear. Sometimes, a coup is labelled as a revolution by its plotters to feign democratic legitimacy. According to Clayton Thyne and Jonathan Powell's coup data set, there were 457 coup attempts from 1950 to 2010, of which 227 (49.7%) were successful and 230 (50.3%) were unsuccessful. They find that coups have "been most common in Africa and
315-414: A coup. A 2019 study found that states that had recently signed civil war peace agreements were much more likely to experience coups, in particular when those agreements contained provisions that jeopardized the interests of the military. Research suggests that protests spur coups, as they help elites within the state apparatus to coordinate coups. A 2019 study found that regional rebellions made coups by
378-568: A coup. The authors of the study provide the following logic for why this is: Autocratic incumbents invested in spatial rivalries need to strengthen the military in order to compete with a foreign adversary. The imperative of developing a strong army puts dictators in a paradoxical situation: to compete with a rival state, they must empower the very agency—the military—that is most likely to threaten their own survival in office. However, two 2016 studies found that leaders who were involved in militarized confrontations and conflicts were less likely to face
441-596: A domestic uprising to proceed uninterrupted – as a consequence, authoritarian rulers have incentives to place incompetent loyalists in key positions in the military. A 2016 study shows that the implementation of succession rules reduce the occurrence of coup attempts. Succession rules are believed to hamper coordination efforts among coup plotters by assuaging elites who have more to gain by patience than by plotting. According to political scientists Curtis Bell and Jonathan Powell, coup attempts in neighbouring countries lead to greater coup-proofing and coup-related repression in
504-838: A fixed succession rule being much less plagued by instability than less institutionalized autocracies. A 2014 study of 18 Latin American countries in the 20th-century study found the legislative powers of the presidency does not influence coup frequency. A 2019 study found that when a country's politics is polarized and electoral competition is low, civilian-recruited coups become more likely. A 2023 study found that civilian elites are more likely to be associated with instigating military coups while civilians embedded in social networks are more likely to be associated with consolidating military coups. A 2017 study found that autocratic leaders whose states were involved in international rivalries over disputed territory were more likely to be overthrown in
567-508: A greater consultation of regional and local-specific sources. Successful coups are one method of regime change that thwarts the peaceful transition of power . A 2016 study categorizes four possible outcomes to coups in dictatorships : The study found that about half of all coups in dictatorships—both during and after the Cold War—install new autocratic regimes. New dictatorships launched by coups engage in higher levels of repression in
630-664: A legislature: One of the major functions of a legislature is to discuss and debate issues of major importance to society. This activity can take place in two forms. In debating legislatures, such as the Parliament of the United Kingdom , the floor of the legislature frequently sees lively debate. In contrast, in committee-based legislatures like the United States Congress , deliberation takes place in closed committees. While legislatures have nominally
693-811: A major threat to dictators. The Harem conspiracy of the 12th century BC was one of the earliest. Palace coups were common in Imperial China . They have also occurred among the Habsburg dynasty in Austria, the Al-Thani dynasty in Qatar , and in Haiti in the 19th to early 20th centuries. The majority of Russian tsars between 1725 and 1801 were either overthrown or usurped power in palace coups. The term putsch ( [pʊtʃ] , from Swiss German for 'knock'), denotes
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#1732772843036756-403: A putsch. Pronunciamiento ( ' pronouncement ' ) is a term of Spanish origin for a type of coup d'état . Specifically the pronunciamiento is the formal declaration deposing the previous government and justifying the installation of the new government by the golpe de estado . One author distinguishes a coup, in which a military or political faction takes power for itself, from
819-681: A region. A 2017 study finds that countries' coup-proofing strategies are heavily influenced by other countries with similar histories. Coup-proofing is more likely in former French colonies. A 2018 study in the Journal of Peace Research found that leaders who survive coup attempts and respond by purging known and potential rivals are likely to have longer tenures as leaders. A 2019 study in Conflict Management and Peace Science found that personalist dictatorships are more likely to take coup-proofing measures than other authoritarian regimes;
882-526: A single unit is unicameral , one divided into two chambers is bicameral , and one divided into three chambers is tricameral . In bicameral legislatures, one chamber is usually considered the upper house , while the other is considered the lower house . The two types are not rigidly different, but members of upper houses tend to be indirectly elected or appointed rather than directly elected, tend to be allocated by administrative divisions rather than by population, and tend to have longer terms than members of
945-648: A somewhat higher chance of success in Africa and Asia. Numbers of successful coups have decreased over time. A number of political science datasets document coup attempts around the world and over time, generally starting in the post-World War II period. Major examples include the Global Instances of Coups dataset, the Coups & Political Instability dataset by the Center of Systemic Peace, the Coup d'etat Project by
1008-435: Is indirectly elected within the context of a one-party state . Legislature size is a trade off between efficiency and representation; the smaller the legislature, the more efficiently it can operate, but the larger the legislature, the better it can represent the political diversity of its constituents. Comparative analysis of national legislatures has found that size of a country's lower house tends to be proportional to
1071-554: Is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country , nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government . Legislatures can exist at different levels of government–national, state/provincial/regional, local, even supranational (such as the European Parliament ). Countries differ as to what extent they grant deliberative assemblies at
1134-420: Is referred to as "coup-proofing", regimes create structures that make it hard for any small group to seize power. These coup-proofing strategies may include the strategic placing of family, ethnic, and religious groups in the military and the fragmenting of military and security agencies. However, coup-proofing reduces military effectiveness as loyalty is prioritized over experience when filling key positions within
1197-413: Is underway, coup success is driven by coup-makers' ability to get others to believe that the coup attempt will be successful. The number of successful coups has decreased over time. Failed coups in authoritarian systems are likely to strengthen the power of the authoritarian ruler. The cumulative number of coups is a strong predictor of future coups, a phenomenon referred to as the "coup trap". In what
1260-664: The Americas have more independence in drafting and amending bills. The origins of the power of the purse which legislatures typically have in passing or denying government budgets goes back to the European assemblies of nobility which the monarchs would have to consult before raising taxes. For this power to be actually effective, the legislature should be able to amend the budget, have an effective committee system, enough time for consideration, as well as access to relevant background information. There are several ways in which
1323-469: The Cultural Revolution . Self-coup A self-coup , also called an autocoup (from Spanish autogolpe ) or coup from the top , is a form of coup d'état in which a political leader, having come to power through legal means, stays in power through illegal means through the actions of themselves and/or their supporters. The leader may dissolve or render powerless
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#17327728430361386-714: The European Union . The upper house may either contain the delegates of state governments – as in the European Union and in Germany and, before 1913, in the United States – or be elected according to a formula that grants equal representation to states with smaller populations, as is the case in Australia and the United States since 1913. Tricameral legislatures are rare;
1449-497: The Federal Parliament of Somalia ) tied for least powerful. Some political systems follows the principle of legislative supremacy , which holds that the legislature is the supreme branch of government and cannot be bound by other institutions, such as the judicial branch or a written constitution . Such a system renders the legislature more powerful. In parliamentary and semi-presidential systems of government ,
1512-673: The Massachusetts Governor's Council still exists, but the most recent national example existed in the waning years of White-minority rule in South Africa . Tetracameral legislatures no longer exist, but they were previously used in Scandinavia. The only legislature with a number of chambers bigger than four was the Federal Assembly of Yugoslavia ; initially established as a Pentacameral body in 1963, it
1575-401: The executive is responsible to the legislature, which may remove it with a vote of no confidence . On the other hand, according to the separation of powers doctrine, the legislature in a presidential system is considered an independent and coequal branch of government along with both the judiciary and the executive. Nevertheless, many presidential systems provide for the impeachment of
1638-452: The head of government assume dictatorial powers. A soft coup , sometimes referred to as a silent coup or a bloodless coup , is an illegal overthrow of a government, but unlike a regular coup d'état it is achieved without the use of force or violence. A palace coup or palace revolution is a coup in which one faction within the ruling group displaces another faction within a ruling group. Along with popular protests, palace coups are
1701-419: The paramilitary faction led by Ernst Röhm , but Nazi propaganda justified it as preventing a supposed putsch planned or attempted by Röhm. The Nazi term Röhm-Putsch is still used by Germans to describe the event, often with quotation marks as the 'so-called Röhm Putsch'. The 1961 Algiers putsch and the 1991 August Putsch also use the term. The 2023 Wagner Group rebellion has also been described as
1764-534: The 19th century except when used in the translation of a French source, there being no simple phrase in English to convey the contextualized idea of a 'knockout blow to the existing administration within a state'. One early use within text translated from French was in 1785 in a printed translation of a letter from a French merchant, commenting on an arbitrary decree, or arrêt , issued by the French king restricting
1827-602: The Americas (36.5% and 31.9%, respectively). Asia and the Middle East have experienced 13.1% and 15.8% of total global coups, respectively. Europe has experienced by far the fewest coup attempts: 2.6%." Most coup attempts occurred in the mid-1960s, but there were also large numbers of coup attempts in the mid-1970s and the early 1990s. From 1950 to 2010, a majority of coups failed in the Middle East and Latin America. They had
1890-546: The Cline Center, the Colpus coup dataset, and the Coups and Agency Mechanism dataset. A 2023 study argued that major coup datasets tend to over-rely on international news sources to gather their information, potentially biasing the types of events included. Its findings show that while such a strategy is sufficient for gathering information on successful and failed coups, attempts to gather data on coup plots and rumors require
1953-412: The above factors are connected to military culture and power dynamics. These factors can be divided into multiple categories, with two of these categories being a threat to military interests and support for military interests. If interests go in either direction, the military will find itself either capitalizing off that power or attempting to gain it back. Oftentimes, military spending is an indicator of
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2016-702: The amount of political power they wield, compared to other political players such as judiciaries , militaries , and executives . In 2009, political scientists M. Steven Fish and Matthew Kroenig constructed a Parliamentary powers index in an attempt to quantify the different degrees of power among national legislatures. The German Bundestag , the Italian Parliament , and the Mongolian State Great Khural tied for most powerful, while Myanmar's House of Representatives and Somalia's Transitional Federal Assembly (since replaced by
2079-423: The authors argue that this is because "personalists are characterized by weak institutions and narrow support bases, a lack of unifying ideologies and informal links to the ruler". In their 2022 book Revolution and Dictatorship: The Violent Origins of Durable Authoritarianism , political scientists Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way found that political-military fusion, where the ruling party is highly interlinked with
2142-835: The country. Among the earliest recognised formal legislatures was the Athenian Ecclesia . In the Middle Ages , European monarchs would host assemblies of the nobility, which would later develop into predecessors of modern legislatures. These were often named the Estates . The oldest surviving legislature is the Icelandic Althing , founded in 930 CE. Democratic legislatures have six major functions: representation, deliberation, legislation, authorizing expenditure, making governments, and oversight. There exist five ways that representation can be achieved in
2205-604: The coup trap and reduces cycles of political instability. Hybrid regimes are more vulnerable to coups than very authoritarian states or democratic states. A 2021 study found that democratic regimes were not substantially more likely to experience coups. A 2015 study finds that terrorism is strongly associated with re-shuffling coups. A 2016 study finds that there is an ethnic component to coups: "When leaders attempt to build ethnic armies, or dismantle those created by their predecessors, they provoke violent resistance from military officers." Another 2016 study shows that protests increase
2268-403: The duration of their entire term, or for just those related to their legislative duties. A legislature may debate and vote upon bills as a single unit, or it may be composed of multiple separate assemblies , called by various names including legislative chambers , debate chambers , and houses , which debate and vote separately and have distinct powers. A legislature which operates as
2331-421: The executive are also used, particularly for bicameral legislatures featuring an upper house . The name used to refer to a legislative body varies by country. Common names include: By names: By languages: Though the specific roles for each legislature differ by location, they all aim to serve the same purpose of appointing officials to represent their citizens to determine appropriate legislation for
2394-406: The executive for criminal or unconstitutional behaviour. Legislatures will sometimes delegate their legislative power to administrative or executive agencies . Legislatures are made up of individual members, known as legislators , who vote on proposed laws. A legislature usually contains a fixed number of legislators; because legislatures usually meet in a specific room filled with seats for
2457-808: The existing government." In the British press , the phrase came to be used to describe the various murders by Napoleon's alleged secret police , the Gens d'Armes d'Elite , who executed the Duke of Enghien : "the actors in torture, the distributors of the poisoning draughts, and the secret executioners of those unfortunate individuals or families, whom Bonaparte's measures of safety require to remove. In what revolutionary tyrants call grand[s] coups d'état , as butchering, or poisoning, or drowning, en masse, they are exclusively employed." A self-coup , also called an autocoup (from Spanish autogolpe ) or coup from
2520-542: The import of British wool. What may be its first published use within a text composed in English is an editor's note in the London Morning Chronicle ,1804, reporting the arrest by Napoleon in France, of Moreau , Berthier , Masséna , and Bernadotte : "There was a report in circulation yesterday of a sort of coup d'état having taken place in France, in consequence of some formidable conspiracy against
2583-446: The legislators, this is often described as the number of "seats" it contains. For example, a legislature that has 100 "seats" has 100 members. By extension, an electoral district that elects a single legislator can also be described as a "seat", as, for example, in the phrases " safe seat " and " marginal seat ". After election, the members may be protected by parliamentary immunity or parliamentary privilege , either for all actions
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2646-436: The legislature can hold the executive branch (the administration or government) accountable. This can be done through hearings, questioning , interpellations , votes of confidence , the formation of committees. Parliaments are usually ensured with upholding the rule of law, verifying that public funds are used accountably and efficiently as well as make government processes transparent and actions so that they can be debated by
2709-414: The likelihood of a coup taking place. Nordvik found that about 75% of coups that took place in many different countries rooted from military spending and oil windfalls. The accumulation of previous coups is a strong predictor of future coups, a phenomenon called the coup trap . A 2014 study of 18 Latin American countries found that the establishment of open political competition helps bring countries out of
2772-432: The likelihood of coups. A fifth 2016 study finds no evidence that coups are contagious; one coup in a region does not make other coups in the region likely to follow. One study found that coups are more likely to occur in states with small populations, as there are smaller coordination problems for coup-plotters. In autocracies, the frequency of coups seems to be affected by the succession rules in place, with monarchies with
2835-406: The lower house. In some systems, particularly parliamentary systems , the upper house has less power and tends to have a more advisory role, but in others, particularly federal presidential systems , the upper house has equal or even greater power. In federations , the upper house typically represents the federation's component states. This is also the case with the supranational legislature of
2898-401: The mid-1960s, but there were also large numbers of coup attempts in the mid-1970s and the early 1990s. Coups occurring in the post- Cold War period have been more likely to result in democratic systems than Cold War coups, though coups still mostly perpetuate authoritarianism . Many factors may lead to the occurrence of a coup, as well as determine the success or failure of a coup. Once a coup
2961-674: The military and created the administrative structures of the military from its inception, is extremely effective at preventing military coups. For example, the People's Liberation Army was created by the Chinese Communist Party during the Chinese Civil War , and never instigated a military coup even after large-scale policy failures (i.e. the Great Leap Forward ) or the extreme political instability of
3024-447: The military more likely. A 2018 study found that "oil price shocks are seen to promote coups in onshore-intensive oil countries, while preventing them in offshore-intensive oil countries". The study argues that states which have onshore oil wealth tend to build up their military to protect the oil, whereas states do not do that for offshore oil wealth. A 2020 study found that elections had a two-sided impact on coup attempts, depending on
3087-414: The military, and the deliberate use of diverse bureaucrats. Research shows that some coup-proofing strategies reduce the risk of coups occurring. However, coup-proofing reduces military effectiveness, and limits the rents that an incumbent can extract . One reason why authoritarian governments tend to have incompetent militaries is that authoritarian regimes fear that their military will stage a coup or allow
3150-415: The military. The term comes from French coup d'État , literally meaning a 'stroke of state' or 'blow of state'. In French, the word État ( French: [eta] ) is capitalized when it denotes a sovereign political entity. Although the concept of a coup d'état has featured in politics since antiquity, the phrase is of relatively recent coinage. It did not appear within an English text before
3213-442: The national legislature and unlawfully assume extraordinary powers not granted under normal circumstances. Other measures may include annulling the nation's constitution , suspending civil courts, and having the head of government assume dictatorial powers. Between 1946 and the beginning of 2021, an estimated 148 self-coup attempts took place, 110 in autocracies and 38 in democracies . Legislature A legislature
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#17327728430363276-709: The political-military actions of an unsuccessful minority reactionary coup. The term was initially coined for the Züriputsch of 6 September 1839 in Switzerland. It was also used for attempted coups in Weimar Germany , such as the 1920 Kapp Putsch , Küstrin Putsch , and Adolf Hitler 's 1923 Beer Hall Putsch . The 1934 Night of the Long Knives was Hitler's purge to eliminate opponents, particularly
3339-488: The public and its representatives. Agora notes that parliamentary systems or political parties in which political leaders can influence or decide which members receive top jobs can lead to passivity amongst members of the party and less challenging of leadership. Agora notes that this phenomenon is acute if the election of a member is dependant on the support of political leadership. In contrast to democratic systems, legislatures under authoritarianism are used to ensure
3402-530: The rate of economic growth. In what is referred to as "coup-proofing", regimes create structures that make it hard for any small group to seize power. These coup-proofing strategies may include the strategic placing of family, ethnic, and religious groups in the military; creation of an armed force parallel to the regular military; and development of multiple internal security agencies with overlapping jurisdiction that constantly monitor one another. It may also involve frequent salary hikes and promotions for members of
3465-399: The risk of coups, presumably because they ease coordination obstacles among coup plotters and make international actors less likely to punish coup leaders. A third 2016 study finds that coups become more likely in the wake of elections in autocracies when the results reveal electoral weakness for the incumbent autocrat. A fourth 2016 study finds that inequality between social classes increases
3528-411: The sole power to create laws, the substantive extent of this power depends on details of the political system. In Westminster-style legislatures the executive (composed of the cabinet) can essentially pass any laws it wants, as it usually has a majority of legislators behind it, kept in check by the party whip, while committee-based legislatures in continental Europe and those in presidential systems of
3591-400: The stability of the power structure by co-opting potential competing interests within the elites, which they achieve by: Each chamber of the legislature consists of a number of legislators who use some form of parliamentary procedure to debate political issues and vote on proposed legislation. There must be a certain number of legislators present to carry out these activities; this is called
3654-487: The state of the economy. During periods of economic expansion, elections reduced the likelihood of coup attempts, whereas elections during economic crises increased the likelihood of coup attempts. A 2021 study found that oil wealthy nations see a pronounced risk of coup attempts but these coups are unlikely to succeed. A 2014 study of 18 Latin American countries in the 20th century study found that coup frequency does not vary with development levels, economic inequality , or
3717-442: The subnational law-making power, as opposed to purely administrative responsibilities. Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known as primary legislation. In addition, legislatures may observe and steer governing actions, with authority to amend the budget involved. The members of a legislature are called legislators. In a democracy, legislators are most commonly popularly elected , although indirect election and appointment by
3780-456: The top, is a form of coup d'état in which a political leader, having come to power through legal means, stays in power through illegal means through the actions of themselves and/or their supporters. The leader may dissolve or render powerless the national legislature and unlawfully assume extraordinary powers not granted under normal circumstances. Other measures may include annulling the nation's constitution , suspending civil courts, and having
3843-408: The war's duration. A 2003 review of the academic literature found that the following factors influenced coups: The literature review in a 2016 study includes mentions of ethnic factionalism, supportive foreign governments, leader inexperience, slow growth, commodity price shocks, and poverty. Coups have been found to appear in environments that are heavily influenced by military powers. Multiple of
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#17327728430363906-568: The year after the coup than existed in the year before the coup. One-third of coups in dictatorships during the Cold War and 10% of later ones reshuffled the regime leadership. Democracies were installed in the wake of 12% of Cold War coups in dictatorships and 40% of post-Cold War ones. Coups occurring in the post- Cold War period have been more likely to result in democratic systems than Cold War coups, though coups still mostly perpetuate authoritarianism . Coups that occur during civil wars shorten
3969-519: Was turned into a hexacameral body in 1967. Legislatures vary widely in their size. Among national legislatures , China's National People's Congress is the largest with 2,980 members, while Vatican City 's Pontifical Commission is the smallest with 7. Neither legislature is democratically elected: The Pontifical Commission members are appointed by the Pope and the National People's Congress
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