Self-coup

Cavalry in the streets of Paris, after President Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte seized dictatorial power in the 1851 French coup d'état

A self-coup, also called an autocoup (Template:Etymology) or coup from the top, is a form of coup d'état in which a political leader, having come to power through legal means, stays in power illegally through the actions of themselves or their supporters.<ref name=":18">Template:Cite journal</ref> The leader may dissolve or render powerless the national legislature and unlawfully assume extraordinary powers. Other measures may include annulling the constitution, suspending civil courts, and having the head of government assume dictatorial powers.<ref name="UY72">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="atlantic-2020-12-07">Template:Cite web</ref>

From 1946 to the beginning of 2021, an estimated 148 self-coup attempts took place, 110 in autocracies and 38 in democracies.<ref name=Nakamura>Template:Cite news</ref>

List of self-coups

• Template:Flagcountry: President Manuel José Arce (October 10, 1826)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Template:Flagcountry: President Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte (December 2, 1851)<ref name=Brownlee-2022>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• Template:Flag: President Juan Lindolfo Cuestas (February 10, 1898)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• Template:Flag: Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss (March 15, 1933)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Template:Flagcountry: Chancellor Adolf Hitler (March 23, 1933 / August 2, 1934)<ref name=Brownlee-2022/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Template:Flag: President Gabriel Terra (March 31, 1933)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Template:Flag: Prime Minister in duties of the State Elder Konstantin Päts (March 12, 1934)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Template:Flag: President Getúlio Vargas (November 10, 1937)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Template:Flag: President Alfredo Baldomir (February 21, 1942)<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref>
• Template:Flagcountry: King Michael I of Romania (August 23, 1944)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Template:Flag: President Mamerto Urriolagoitía (May 16, 1951)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Template:Flag: Governor-General Ghulam Muhammad (April 1953 – September 21, 1954)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• Template:Flag: President Sukarno (July 5, 1959)<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• Template:Flag: King Mahendra (December 15, 1960)
• Template:Flag: Prime Minister Thanom Kittikachorn (November 17, 1971)
• Template:Flag: President Ferdinand Marcos (September 23, 1972)<ref name=Brownlee-2022/><ref name="martiallaw">Template:Cite web</ref>
• Template:Flag: President Park Chung Hee (October 17, 1972)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Template:Flag: King Sobhuza II (April 12, 1973)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Template:Flag: President Juan María Bordaberry (June 27, 1973)<ref name="UY72" />
• Template:Flag: President Alberto Fujimori (April 5, 1992)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Template:Flag: President Boris Yeltsin (September 21, 1993)Template:Efn
• Template:Flag: Prime Minister Hun Sen (July 1997)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Template:Flag: King Gyanendra (February 1, 2005)
• Template:Flag: President Nicolás Maduro (March 29, 2017)<ref name="coup">Template:Cite news</ref>
• Template:Flag: President Martín Vizcarra (September 30, 2019)<ref name=":11">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":13">Template:Cite news</ref>
• Template:Flag: Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin (29 February 2020)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Template:Flag: President Vladimir Putin (July 4, 2020)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Template:Flag: President Nayib Bukele (May 1, 2021)<ref name="1M">Template:Cite news</ref>
• Template:Flag: President Kais Saied (July 25, 2021)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Template:Flag: Chairman of the Sovereignty Council Abdel Fattah al-Burhan (October 25, 2021)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Notable events described as attempted self-coups

• Template:Flag: President Jorge Serrano Elías (May 25 – June 5, 1993)<ref name=Levitt>Barry S. Levitt (2006), "A Desultory Defense of Democracy: OAS Resolution 1080 and the Inter-American Democratic Charter, Latin American Politics and Society, Volume 48, Issue 3, September 2006, Pages: 93–123. pp104-5</ref>
• Template:Flag: President Abdurrahman Wahid (July 1–25, 2001)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• Template:Flag: Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad (February 23 – March 1, 2020)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• Template:Flag: President Donald Trump (November 4, 2020 – January 6, 2021; after election loss)<ref>

Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

• Template:Flag: President Pedro Castillo (December 7, 2022)<ref name=":25">Template:Multiref2</ref>
• Template:Flag: President Jair Bolsonaro (October 30, 2022 – December 31, 2022; January 8, 2023; after election loss)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• Template:Flag: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (ongoing events, since he assumed office on December 29, 2022)Template:Efn
• Template:Flag: President Yoon Suk Yeol (December 3–4, 2024)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Template:Flag: President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (ongoing events culminating in the arrest of Ekrem İmamoğlu on March 19, 2025)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

See also

• Constitutional coup
• Democratic backsliding
• Soft coup

Further reading

• Arthur A Goldsmith. 2024. "Power Grabs from the Top: A Database of Self-Coups." International Studies Quarterly, Volume 68, Issue 4
• F. E. Guerra-Pujol. 2024. "Gödel's Loophole: A Prequel." Southwestern Journal of International Law, Volume 30, Issue 2

External links

• Template:Wiktionary inline