Dec 9, 2025 · What follows is a synthesis —an evidence-based explanation of whycoupsoccur, how they unfold, and why certain states fall into persistent cycles of instability. Coups can be understood as illegal, overt efforts by military or civilian elites to seize executive power. But the threat of a coup does remain pressing in more newly democratizing regimes, which have not yet developed norms of civilian, democratic governance of the military. May 7, 2024 · Critical to that effort will be the development of judicial channels for assessing whether orders are illegal or undemocratic. Military officers cannot be expected to judge the legality or constitutionality of all orders themselves. Dec 9, 2025 · In the paper I explored underlying shortcomings of Africa’s democracies as one major factor leading to military seizures. I focused on the recent coups in Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Niger... Nov 3, 2023 · Over 61% of the democracies that died between 1789 and 2008 did so due to a militarycoup. Today, coups remain a potent threat, ending democratic transitions in Egypt, Thailand, Mali,... militarycoup is an oxymoron. For example, Richard Albert’s recent work on democratic revolutions states that “by definition, a coup cannot be democratic.”7 Militarycoups, according...