May 22, 2013
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Description
A coup d'état, also known as a coup, a putsch, or an overthrow, is the sudden deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to depose the extant government and replace it with another body, civil or military. A coup d'état is considered successful when the usurpers establish their dominance. When the coup neither fails completely nor succeeds, a civil war is a likely consequence.
A coup d'état typically uses the extant government's power to assume political control of the country. In Coup d'État: A Practical Handbook, military historian Edward Luttwak states that "[a] coup consists of the infiltration of a small, but critical, segment of the state apparatus, which is then used to displace the government from its control of the remainder." The armed forces, whether military or paramilitary, are not a defining factor of a coup d'état. Lately a view that all coups are a danger to democracy and stability has been challenged by the indication of the phenomenon of a "democratic coup d'état", which "respond to a popular uprising against an authoritarian or totalitarian regime and topple that regime for the limited purpose of holding the free and fair elections of civilian leaders."
(via Freebase)
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![Over 300 officers charged in Turkey's 'sledgehammer' coup plot [Press TV, Iran]](/images/image_cache/base-10962000/10962594/thumbnail.width=304,height=171,grow=1,crop=center.jpg?sig=cf78a57a7e92b1cab215525decb9a918)
![Yemeni security situation deteriorates as fractured army clashes [BBC Arabic, UK]](/images/image_cache/base-8742000/8742600/thumbnail.width=304,height=171,grow=1,crop=center.jpg?sig=523d3d272921b883533488e34f76c613)
