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Military Coups and Military Disengagement

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Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance

Synonyms

Blow of state; Coup d’état; Military intervention; Military putsch; Regime change

Definition

A coup d’état is the sudden, often violent, overthrow of an existing government by a small group, and it usually refers to military coup.

A military coup is “the removal or the attempted removal of a state’s chief executive by the regular armed forces through the use of threat of force” (Thompson 1973, p. 6).

Military Coups

The military coup d’états have accounted for nearly 200 regime changes in the developing world, making it the most common method of regime change in the post-World War II era (David 1991, pp. 238–239). Between 1945 and 1976, Nordlinger (1977, p. xi) estimated more than two thirds of the countries of Latin America, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East had experienced varying levels of military intervention. According to Ruth Leger Sivard’s study (1986, p. 24), a majority of third world countries were characterized by military controlled governments in 1985, nearly half...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political Science and International Relations, Fenerbahçe University, İstanbul, Turkey

    Tuba Eldem

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  1. Tuba Eldem
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Correspondence to Tuba Eldem .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, USA

    Ali Farazmand

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Eldem, T. (2020). Military Coups and Military Disengagement. In: Farazmand, A. (eds) Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_4171-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_4171-2

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Military Coups and Military Disengagement
    Published:
    21 August 2020

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_4171-2

  2. Original

    Military Coups and Military Disengagement
    Published:
    08 July 2020

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_4171-1

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