Regime change is the partly forcible or coercive replacement of one government

regime In politics, a regime (also "régime") is the form of government or the set of rules, cultural or social norms, etc. that regulate the operation of a government or institution and its interactions with society. According to Yale professor Juan Jo ...

with another. Regime change may replace all or part of the state's most critical leadership system, administrative apparatus, or

bureaucracy The term bureaucracy () refers to a body of non-elected governing officials as well as to an administrative policy-making group. Historically, a bureaucracy was a government administration managed by departments staffed with non-elected offi ...

. Regime change may occur through domestic processes, such as

revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

, coup, or reconstruction of government following state failure or

civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...

. It can also be imposed on a country by foreign actors through invasion, overt or covert interventions, or

coercive diplomacy Compellence is a form of coercion that attempts to get an actor (such as a state) to change its behavior through threats to use force or the actual use of limited force. Robert J. Art and Patrick M. Cronin, ''The United States and Coercive Diplomacy ...

. Regime change may entail the construction of new institutions, the restoration of old institutions, and the promotion of new ideologies. According to a dataset by Alexander Downes, 120 leaders were removed through foreign-imposed regime change between 1816 and 2011.

Types

Internal regime change

Regime change can be precipitated by revolution or a

coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...

. For example, the

1917 Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government ...

, the 1962 Burmese coup, and the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

Foreign-imposed regime change

Foreign-imposed regime change is the deposing of a regime by a foreign state, which can be achieved through covert means or by direct military action. Interstate war can also culminate into a foreign-imposed regime change for the losers, as occurred for the

Axis Powers The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were ...

in 1945. Foreign-imposed regime change is sometimes used by states as a foreign policy tool. According to a dataset by Alexander Downes, 120 leaders have been successfully removed through foreign-imposed regime change between 1816 and 2011. During the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...

, the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

frequently intervened in elections and engaged in attempts at regime change, both covertly and overtly. According to Michael Poznansky, covert regime change became more common when non-intervention was codified into international law, leading states that wanted to engage in regime change to do so covertly and conceal their violations of international law.

Regime promotion

According to John Owen IV, there are four historical waves of forcible regime promotion: # Catholicism vs Protestantism: From the 1520s to the early 18th century # Republicanism vs Constitutional monarchy vs Absolute monarchy: From the 1770s to the late 19th century # Communism vs Liberalism vs Fascism: From the late 1910s to the 1980s # Secular government vs Islamism: post-1990

Impact

Studies by Alexander Downes, Lindsey O'Rourke and Jonathan Monten indicate that foreign-imposed regime change seldom reduces the likelihood of civil war, violent removal of the newly imposed leader, and the probability of conflict between the intervening state and its adversaries, as well as does not increase the likelihood of

democratization Democratization, or democratisation, is the transition to a more democratic political regime, including substantive political changes moving in a democratic direction. It may be a hybrid regime in transition from an authoritarian regime to a full ...

(unless regime change comes with pro-democratic institutional changes in countries with favorable conditions for democracy). Downes argues,

The strategic impulse to forcibly oust antagonistic or non-compliant regimes overlooks two key facts. First, the act of overthrowing a foreign government sometimes causes its military to disintegrate, sending thousands of armed men into the countryside where they often wage an insurgency against the intervener. Second, externally-imposed leaders face a domestic audience in addition to an external one, and the two typically want different things. These divergent preferences place imposed leaders in a quandary: taking actions that please one invariably alienates the other. Regime change thus drives a wedge between external patrons and their domestic protégés or between protégés and their people.

Research by Nigel Lo, Barry Hashimoto, and

Dan Reiter Dan Reiter (born 29 September 1967, Ann Arbor, Michigan) is an American political scientist. He is currently the Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor at the Department of Political Science at Emory University. Education Reiter received his B.A. with hon ...

has contrasting findings, as they find that interstate "peace following wars last longer when the war ends in foreign-imposed regime change." However, research by Reiter and Goran Peic finds that foreign-imposed regime change can raise the probability of civil war.

By country

Russian involvement in regime change Russian involvement in regime change describes activities by the Russian government to replace foreign regimes through overt or covert interventions since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. During the Soviet Union Previous to the ...

Soviet involvement in regime change Soviet involvement in regime change entailed both overt and covert actions aimed at altering, replacing, or preserving foreign governments. In the 1920s the nascent Soviet Union intervened in multiple governments primarily in Asia, acquiring the t ...

* United States involvement in regime change *

United States involvement in regime change in Latin America Participation of the United States in regime change in Latin America involved US-backed '' coups d'état'' aimed at replacing left-wing leaders with right-wing leaders, military juntas, or authoritarian regimes. Lesser intervention of economic ...

References

External links

Encarta Dictionary

Word Spy: Regime Change
{{DEFAULTSORT:Regime change 1925 introductions 1920s neologisms Causes of war Aftermath of war Changes in political power Revolution terminology