A coup d’état is usually an illegal and unconstitutional takeover of power by a group of people, such as the military, police, judiciary or other government officials. It is a military coup against an existing government and the result of a violent attack on the government or its leaders. A coup d’état is an act of violence against a government that has existed for some time without the consent of its citizens or the public.
The term “coup d’etat” comes from the French coup d’état, which literally means “coup d’etat” or “blow against the state.” When used in translations from French sources, the term appears in English as an “attempted coup,” a simple sentence from English that conveys the contextualized idea of a knock-out blow against an existing government or state, and can refer to a coup in the context of an unsuccessful coup, or as a “coup attempt”. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, a coup d’etat is when a small group illegally takes power from a government.
According to the dictionary, “coup d’etat” means “overthrowing a government, usually by force,” and the power to impeach is enshrined in black and white in America’s rule book, the Constitution. It is axiomatically true that you cannot break rules if you follow them, but that is not necessarily the case in the US.
Unlike a revolution, a coup usually aims to replace key members of the government or force the resignation or removal of key leaders, such as the president, prime minister, or military chief. Coups are typically carried out by an aspiring dictator or an opposing political faction, not by the government.
In the most common form of power-grab, an opposing group of civil or military organizers overthrows a sitting government and installs itself as the nation’s new leader. With important successes, coup attempts usually attempt to gain control of important political positions such as the president, prime minister, or military chief. A coup d’etat occurs when an elite group, usually justified by the common good of a nation, seizes power, or forces the resignation or removal of one or more important leaders.
President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, also known as IBK, was forced out of office after a military intervention. He is seen by some as the guardian of the coup, and by others, such as former President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, as the guardian against a coup. The impeachment was a victory for Etchegoyen, who remained faithful to his family tradition and did not resign voluntarily. Only when the country is staring out of the barrel of a gun do coup plotters carry out their actions, whether by urging the president to resign, executing him, or forcing him into exile in a deliberate attempt to fend off criticism. They are clever, but only if they do it, and only if they are followed. Today, however, the Temer government is trying to maintain the image of democracy in the formal sense, and cannot ban political parties. Instead, it can serve as a pretext to persecute the PT leadership and ban them from holding political office. Suppressing dissent and dissolving a political party take an unconventional approach, just as Brazil has faced unconventional coups in the past, such as the ouster of President Dilma Rousseff in 2002 and the impeachment of former President Eduardo Cunha in 2010.
Convincing the world that it has just witnessed a military – supported – transition, not a coup, is therefore crucial to the coup leaders “ambitions. Governments that come to power by coups may, over time, be seen as less legitimate at home. The country has secured limited financial aid and suspended the African Union because the transfer of power was described as a “coup” and thus an unconstitutional transfer of power. The reason why the word “coup” appears in the government communiqué on the situation in Mali should not surprise anyone familiar with the history of coups d’état in Africa and the world.
A coup to overthrow a democratic government by force was justified by the threat of military action against the opposition government or its allies. Starting with elements of the army, including officers who are not involved in a coup, they can trigger the reaction of soldiers who were afraid that they themselves were next. Once taken, it is quite rare for the ruling or existing government to violently purge an army after the coup has been foiled, except in rare cases of coups d’etat.