Coup d'État

A Practical Handbook, Revised Edition

Edward N. Luttwak

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English

Harvard University Press
11 April 2016

Politics & government; Political science & theory; Political structure & processes; Theory of warfare & military science

Coup d'État astonished readers when it first appeared in 1968 because it showed, step by step, how governments could be overthrown. Translated into sixteen languages, it has inspired anti-coup precautions by regimes around the world. In addition to these detailed instructions, Edward Luttwak's revised handbook offers an altogether new way of looking at political power-one that considers, for example, the vulnerability to coups of even the most stable democracies in the event of prolonged economic distress.

The world has changed dramatically in the past half century, but not the essence of the coup d'état. It still requires the secret recruitment of military officers who command the loyalty of units well placed to seize important headquarters and key hubs in the capital city. The support of the armed forces as a whole is needed only in the aftermath, to avoid countercoups. And mass support is largely irrelevant, although passive acceptance is essential. To ensure it, violence must be kept to a minimum. The ideal coup is swift and bloodless. Very violent coups rarely succeed, and if they trigger a bloody civil war they fail utterly.

Luttwak identifies conditions that make countries vulnerable to a coup, and he outlines the necessary stages of planning, from recruitment of coconspirators to postcoup promises of progress and stability. But much more broadly, his investigation of coups-updated for the twenty-first century-uncovers important truths about the nature of political power.

By: Edward N. Luttwak
Imprint: Harvard University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Edition: Revised edition
Dimensions: Height: 210mm, Width: 140mm, Spine: 20mm
Weight: 272g
ISBN: 9780674737266
ISBN 10: 0674737261
Pages: 270
Publication Date: 11 April 2016
Audience: General/trade , College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , ELT Advanced , Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Edward N. Luttwak serves or has served as a contractor for the Office of Net Assessment of the U.S. Department of Defense and for the U.S. armed forces, and as a consultant to the U.S. National Security Council, the White House Chief of Staff, and several allied governments.

Reviews for Coup d'État: A Practical Handbook, Revised Edition

Additions bringing this work into the twenty-first century include Luttwak's observations about how coup plotters in the age of the internet must now take control of more than the central television station to control public propaganda... It offers as much wisdom on the counter-coup as on the coup itself... It remains in print more than forty years after it was written and still commands sales. The reason may be that it is a good read: wry, observant and practical.-- (06/01/2016)