The Recipe For a Successful Coup
How do coups succeed?
An armored vehicle crashed into the doors of the presidential palace in Bolivia in an apparent coup attempt on June 26th. Despite sowing chaos in the capital of La Paz, the coup was ultimately unsuccessful. The leading general was arrested, and the participating soldiers were scattered by police in riot gear. Coups are fickle things, and failed coup attempts raise an interesting question. What makes a good coup? Why do some coups fail outright, and others swiftly succeed?
Successful coups often go off quickly. After decapitating the government, coup organizers seize the reigns of power and then ask that everyone calm down. In some political situations, this is all it takes for a new group to come into power. But why doesn’t this work everywhere?
A coup has to have several key ingredients to succeed.
- Support of the military
- A population that is hostile or apathetic to those currently in power
- Concentrated power within the country
- A message and a way to get it out
If coup organizers do not have all or most of these ingredients, then there is a good chance that it will fail.
In most cases, military support is the more critical part of any coup. Without…
