Military coup is an overthrow of a government by the use of force, usually by the army. This is most often a violent action, but can also be nonviolent. In many countries it is illegal, although the United States has recognised some putches as legitimate. Coups can be driven by many factors. One is a loss of confidence in democracy. Another is a desire to gain wealth and prestige by regaining power. Other factors include the inclinations of the coup leader, which may lead to a self-coup (as in the case of the Ethiopian leader Ras Gugsa Wale) or a dynastic coup (such as that by Idi Amin in Uganda).
The rise of coups has left observers perplexed. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called it an “epidemic of coup d’états.” The resurgence of military takeovers is more likely to reflect a failure of democracy than a return to praetorian politics, but that does not mean that anti-coup norms are starting to erode.
For supporters of democracy, it is important to be able to distinguish and react sensibly to a coup. Clearly, the first step is to define what a coup is: Merriam-Webster defines it as “a sudden decisive exercise of power and especially the violent overthrow or alteration of an existing government by a small group.” But this is easier said than done. The challenge is that, even in democratically elected regimes, coups can look like elections, and a coup can be achieved by severe administrative rigging. This is what happened in the Thai post-coup elections in 2019, when the junta, after winning, changed the electoral rules to favour its own party.