Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol on Jan. 6, disrupting Congress’s certification of Joe Biden as president-elect. Coup experts explain this violent insurrection wasn’t technically a coup.
Academic rigour, journalistic flair
Articles on Military coup
Displaying 21 - 40 of 58 articles
A coup may be a quick fix for a problem leader, but history shows that coups beget more coups.
When the military intervened against Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe in 2017, it wasn’t widely called a military coup. New research shows that’s exactly what it was.
The political crisis and any potential instability may once again force the military’s hand
In death, President Mohamed Beji Caid Essebsi has left behind an unfinished revolution which now needs a new leader.
History shows that when government elites believe that there is a risk that they may lose control of the capital, they escalate targeted violence against civilians.
Traveling death squads. Sadistic torture techniques. Stolen babies. The US helped it all happen by aiding Argentina’s military regime in the 1970s, according to newly declassified documents.
People in Sudan are determined to provide a new political path and need to guide candidates who want to lead the country.
There are concerns that the transition to civilian rule in Sudan won’t be smooth.
Al-Bashir’s ability to play a skillful combination of internal and external balancing acts, plus ruthless repression and a divided opposition, kept him in power for three decades.
There are question marks over whether Nigeria’s upcoming elections will be credible.
A coup seems so imminent in Venezuela that people are debating whether Maduro’s overthrow would be good or bad for Venezuelan democracy. But history suggests a coup may be less likely than it seems.
2018 is on track to become only the second coup-free year in a century. Coup risk is way down worldwide, thanks to growing political stability in Latin America. Africa has the highest risk of coup.
The top U.S. foreign policy goals in Africa evidently no longer relate to human rights or democratic freedoms, but to protecting tiny, marginal American industries.
It’s election season in Pakistan, and the Supreme Court is at war with the ruling party. Many Pakistanis wonder whether the nation’s top judge is cleaning up government or staging a judicial coup.
By intervening in Zimbabwe’s politics the military could plunge the country into a prolonged period of uncertainty. Could President Emmerson Mnangagwa be its saviour?
Some observers think Mugabe’s overthrow by the Army might be a good thing for Zimbabwe. An Argentinean expert on Latin America’s bloody military dictatorships disagrees.
Mugabe and his powerful wife have been overthrown in an apparent coup orchestrated by Zimbabwe’s vice president. Will the country transition into democracy or get strapped with yet another dictator?
The protracted political crisis in Zimbabwe has worsened since President Mugabe fired vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa. Now the military has entered the fray, raising fears a coup is imminent.
A well-trained military is crucial to a functioning civil democracy, but it can be a liability too.
Top contributors
-
Research Affiliate and Senior Analyst, University of Central Florida
-
Political Science Profesor, Torcuato di Tella University
-
Associate professor, University of Central Florida
-
Honorary Associate in Political Economy, University of Sydney
-
-
Senior lecturer in Politics and International Relations, Leeds Beckett University
-
Researcher in conflict, peace and security, University of Nottingham
-
Senior Lecturer, Defence Studies Department, King's College London
-
Affiliate, Centre of African Studies, The University of Edinburgh
-
Associate Professor in the Politics of Africa, University of Oxford
-
Assistant Professor, Department of International Relations, Universitas Gadjah Mada
-
Research Associate, Dept of Anthropology & Development Studies and Fellow, Clare Hall, University of Cambridge, University of Johannesburg
-
Visiting Lecturer, Georgia State University
-
Professor of Sociology, University of the Witwatersrand
-
Senior Lecturer in Latin American Politics, University of Bath
