Golpe de Estado (Coup D'État)

A golpe de estado (coup d'état in French, Putsch in German, often simply coup in English) refers to the unscheduled and illegal ousting of a government and its replacement by new authorities, whether civilian, military, or an alliance of civilians and military. Such ousters may be violent or peaceful, broadly supported by the population or against the desires of the citizenry. Sometimes the threat of a coup forces incumbent officials to resign—in a sense, a golpe without actual exercise of force. Golpes de estado may occur against incumbent regimes of all sorts—theocracies, traditional monarchies, constitutional monarchies, republics, and other political systems. They may oust constitutional governments, de facto regimes, authoritarian governments, and personalist dictatorships.

Most golpes involve the military or elements of the military in alliance with civilian political factions, movements, or political parties. In some instances, foreign nations encourage, support, or sponsor coups to bring into power governments more favorable to their interests. Typically, when military coups occur, they are followed by the organization of a military junta (small committee of officers) to replace the ousted government or at least the executive branch. In some instances self-coups (auto-golpes) occur, referring to unconstitutional usurpation of authority by incumbent governments with the concomitant closure or repression of legislative, judicial, and other agencies of the legally constituted government. In these cases the executive branch usually remains in place, supported by the military and national police, with "extraordinary powers" to govern until the political situation is "normalized."

Motivations for golpes de estado vary greatly: to prevent an election from occurring; to undo electoral results; to oust a government whose policies are opposed; to initiate new policies or impose fundamental change in the political system; or simply to take power away from some groups so that it can be assumed by others. Initially, most coup makers seek only to overthrow the extant authorities and replace them with new leadership. However, some coups may be motivated by a desire to carry out more profound political and socioeconomic change. In other cases, coups that begin with limited objectives may be transformed into more far-reaching political projects focused on institutional change and sweeping policy initiatives.

In Spain and Latin America, irregular changes in government through military and civilian coups were common in the nineteenth century and into the twentieth. From 1920 to 1960 successful military coups occurred in every Latin America country except Mexico and Uruguay; in Uruguay, irregular regime change with police and military participation occurred in 1933–1934, and in Mexico, unsuccessful military coups occurred at least four times before 1940.

In the 1960s military regimes came to power through coups in much of Central and South America. These regimes gradually gave way to elected civilian governments again in the 1980s and early 1990s, but successful or unsuccessful coups took place in almost half of Latin American countries between 1990 and 2006.

See alsoArmed Forces; Military Dictatorships: Since 1945; Military Dictatorships: 1821–1945.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Fitch, Samuel. The Military Coup as a Political Process: Ecuador, 1948–1966. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1977.

Loveman, Brian. For la Patria: Politics and the Armed Forces in Latin America. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1999.

Luttwak, Edward. Coup d'État: A Practical Handbook. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1979.

Romero, Luis Alberto. Los golpes militares, 1812–1955. Buenos Aires: Carlos Pérez Editor, 1969.

Solaún, Mauricio, and Michael A. Quinn. Sinners and Heretics: The Politics of Military Intervention in Latin America. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1973.

                                       Brian Loveman