A self-coup, also called an autocoup () or coup from the top, is a form of

coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...

in which a political leader, having come to power through legal means, stays in power illegally through the actions of themselves or their supporters. The leader may dissolve or render powerless the national

legislature A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial power ...

and unlawfully assume extraordinary powers. Other measures may include annulling the

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

, suspending civil courts, and having the

head of government In the Executive (government), executive branch, the head of government is the highest or the second-highest official of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presid ...

assume dictatorial powers. From 1946 to the beginning of 2021, an estimated 148 self-coup attempts took place, 110 in

autocracies Autocracy is a form of government in which absolute power is held by the head of state and government, known as an autocrat. It includes some forms of monarchy and all forms of dictatorship, while it is contrasted with democracy and feudalism. ...

and 38 in

democracies Democracy (from , ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitiv ...

List of self-coups

* : President Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte ( December 2, 1851) * : President Juan Lindolfo Cuestas (February 10, 1898) * : Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss ( March 15, 1933) * : Chancellor

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

( March 23, 1933 / August 2, 1934) * : President Gabriel Terra (March 31, 1933) * : Prime Minister in duties of the State Elder Konstantin Päts ( March 12, 1934) * : King

Michael I of Romania Michael I ( ; 25 October 1921 – 5 December 2017) was the last King of Romania, reigning from 20 July 1927 to 8 June 1930 and again from 6 September 1940 until his forced abdication on 30 December 1947. Shortly after Michael's birth, his f ...

( August 23, 1944) * : President Mamerto Urriolagoitía ( May 16, 1951) * : Governor-General Ghulam Muhammad ( April 1953 – September 21, 1954) * : President

Sukarno Sukarno (6 June 1901 – 21 June 1970) was an Indonesian statesman, orator, revolutionary, and nationalist who was the first president of Indonesia, serving from 1945 to 1967. Sukarno was the leader of the Indonesian struggle for independenc ...

( July 5, 1959) * : President

Ferdinand Marcos Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. (September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino lawyer, politician, dictator, and Kleptocracy, kleptocrat who served as the tenth president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled the c ...

( September 23, 1972) * : President

Park Chung Hee Park Chung Hee (; ; November14, 1917October26, 1979) was a South Korean politician and army officer who served as the third president of South Korea from 1962 after he seized power in the May 16 coup of 1961 until Assassination of Park Chung ...

( October 17, 1972) * : President Juan María Bordaberry ( June 27, 1973) * : President Alberto Fujimori ( April 5, 1992) * : President

Boris Yeltsin Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin (1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician and statesman who served as President of Russia from 1991 to 1999. He was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) from 1961 to ...

( September 21, 1993) * : Prime Minister Hun Sen ( July 1997) * : President Nicolás Maduro ( March 29, 2017) * : President

Martín Vizcarra Martín Alberto Vizcarra Cornejo (; born 22 March 1963) is a Peruvian engineer and politician who served as President of Peru from 2018 to 2020. Vizcarra Martín Vizcarra's governorship of Moquegua, previously served as List of regional governor ...

( 30 September 2019) * : Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin ( 29 February 2020) * : President

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

( July 4, 2020) * : President Nayib Bukele ( May 1, 2021) * : President Kais Saied ( July 25, 2021) * : Chairman of the Sovereignty Council

Abdel Fattah al-Burhan Abdel Fattah al-Burhan Abdelrahman al-Burhan (; born 11 July 1960) is a Sudanese army general who has been the ''de facto'' List of heads of state of Sudan, leader of Sudan since 2019. Following the Sudanese revolution, Sudanese Revolution in Ap ...

( October 25, 2021)

Notable events described as attempted self-coups

* : President Jorge Serrano Elías ( May 25 – June 5, 1993)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 * : President Abdurrahman Wahid ( July 1–25, 2001) * : Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad ( February 23 – March 1, 2020) * : President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

( November 4, 2020 – January 6, 2021; after election loss) * : President Pedro Castillo ( December 7, 2022) * : President Jair Bolsonaro ( October 30, 2022 – December 31, 2022; January 8, 2023; after election loss) * : Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ( ongoing events, since he assumed office on December 29, 2022) * : President Yoon Suk Yeol ( December 3–4, 2024) * : President

( ongoing events, since he assumed office on January 20, 2025) * : President

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician who is the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as the 25th prime minister of Turkey, prime minister from 2003 to 2014 as part of the Jus ...

(ongoing events culminating in the arrest of Ekrem İmamoğlu on March 19, 2025)

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Self-Coup Constitutional crises Coups d'état

List of self-coups

Notable events described as attempted self-coups

See also

Notes

References

Further reading

External links