The coup d’etat is the violent overthrow of an existing government by a small group of military elements. The main prerequisite is control of all or part of the armed forces, police, and other security agencies. Unlike a revolution, which usually addresses fundamental social and economic policies, the coup d’etat typically results in an abrupt change of leading government personnel. A successful coup may lead to a dictatorship, but only if the new leader is an exceptional personality, as Simon Bolivar and Giuseppe Garibaldi were in South America. A failed coup can lead to civil war, a return to old power structures, or another attempt to overthrow the regime.
Coup d’etats rarely occur in democracies, but when they do the results are usually unpredictable. The removal of an authoritarian regime can tip a country into a different kind of political system, increase levels of repression and instability, and set a dangerous precedent for the military’s involvement in politics. A growing body of research shows that the way a coup is interpreted by international actors can also influence the outcome.
Coups d’etat have occurred throughout history on every continent, though they were particularly numerous between 1960 and 1990, and have become rarer since the mid-1990s. Several African countries are experiencing a “coup wave” at the moment, concentrated in the Sahel region of the continent. This article explains the definition of a coup d’etat and explores the impact that coups have had on democracy and governance in Africa.