What is a Coup d’Etat?

The coup d’etat is a military-led overthrow of an existing government, replacing it with a new one. This can have significant diplomatic and legal implications, particularly for countries that belong to intergovernmental organizations with specific procedures for dealing with such events.

The label coup d’etat may be applied to a wide variety of events, some of which are not technically a coup d’etat at all. The most serious cases involve overthrowing a constitutionally elected government and installing a dictatorship that is not approved by the national assembly. This is usually a direct result of the military taking control of government and installing a new leadership that has a strong grip on power.

Other cases include the coup of 1809 in Iceland, when a group of army officers deposed the governor and made themselves protectors; the Rum Rebellion in Australia in which a group of soldiers seized government buildings and expelled Governor William Bligh from the country (which later restored Danish rule); the revolution in Brazil that brought General Joo Goulart to power (1811); and the self-coup by President Mamerto Urriolagoitia of Bolivia who overthrew the Supreme Director, Laureano Pineda, and removed him from office, and in the process prevented a reformist, Victor Paz Estenssoro, from assuming the presidency. There have also been many unsuccessful attempts at overthrowing governments, including a coup attempt in Guinea-Bissau by the army in 2003 against the government led by Kumba Iala and the attempted coup in Chad by the army against President Idriss Déby.