Session II: Understanding the Coup d’état

5. We should take this as a warning:

a. Coups are a major threat to democracy. Very often they are used by a country’s military or by an authoritarian group to pull down a democratic government.

b. Many coups have been successful. Citizens have not been able to defeat them.

c. Often citizens feel powerless to do anything in the face of a coup.

1) They are silent or submit passively because they do not know what else to do.

2) Their sense of powerlessness is aggravated by the fact that they have not prepared themselves to fight coups though advanced planning or training.

d. Therefore, it is a real challenge for us to understand how coups work and citizens can prepare themselves to defeat them.

IT IS HARD TO ORGANIZE AN EFFECTIVE COUP (Trainer talk – 10 minutes)

1. It is sobering to think that governments in over half the world’s sovereign states have been overthrown by coups since World War II.

2. On the other hand, it should be noted that it is hard to organize a coup. It is hard to overthrow a government. Many attempts at a coup are unsuccessful. There are many more failed coups in history than successful ones.

3. It is especially hard to carry out a successful coup when the following three conditions exist:

WRITE ON NEWSPRINT: The 3 conditions listed below: (a) “The existing government is well established”; (b) “The populace generally supports the government”; (c) “Other nations are ready to become involved.” Then talk about the points under each condition.

a. The existing government is well established if it:

1) Is democratically elected or has some other basis for legitimacy.

2) Shows it cares for the people and is responsive to their needs and concerns.

3) Has many regional centers of power, rather than having all power concentrated in one place.

4) Is supported as legitimate by a range of political forces in the society, such as political parties and regional, ethnic, and religious groupings.

5) Has strong support in the armed forces, the police, and the security agencies.

b. The populace generally supports the government if it:

1) Feels the existing government and its leaders are legitimate.

2) Is not passive. Political participation and interest by the populace is relatively high.

3) Has some experience with democratic participation and values freedom and democratic means of change.

4) Is well-educated; has many sources of information.

5) Has a history and experience of saying “No” to illegitimate power.

6) Feels that its physical needs are being met.

c. Other nations are ready to become involved if they:

1) Believe the government in question is legitimate and has the support of its people.

2) Are willing to bring pressure against attempts to change it by extra-parliamentary means.

4. When these above conditions exist:

a. The existing government will cling strongly to power.

b. The population will rise up spontaneously to resist the coup.

c. Other nations will use diplomatic or other means (e.g., embargoes) to bring pressure against the coup planners.

5. If you add to the 3 favorable conditions a populace that has some EXPERIENCE in combating coups, is TRAINED in resisting coups, and has a well-thought-out PLAN for resisting any attempt at a coup, then you have made it extremely hard for even the best-laid plot to succeed.

6. Our task together is to add these elements of TRAINING and advance PLANNING. With these, you will have not only the capability to defeat a coup, but to DETER schemers from trying a coup, knowing the opposition they will face.

7. Now we will look at how coups happen.

HOW DO COUPS HAPPEN? (Trainer’s talk – 20 minutes)

1. We have mentioned that the dictionary definition of “coup d’état” comes from French, “blow against the state.” It is defined as “the sudden, forcible overthrow of a government.”

a. Purpose of the coup: To replace the current ruling group with your own and to seize governmental power.

b. Interesting point: Often accomplished by a relatively SMALL group of conspirators and with little or no violence. For example:

1) SOUTH KOREA 1961: General Park Chung Hee seized power with 3,500 troops out of an army of 600,000.

2) GHANA 1966: a mere 500 troops out of an army of 10,000 overthrew the single-party government of President Kwame Nkrumah with hardly a shot fired.

c. Rather than a slow building of force, with many battles and a final clash (as in revolution), the coup usually is QUICK and requires careful timing. Examples:

1) Nigeria: In just one day November 17, 1993, military strongman General Sani Abacha ousted the civilian government of Ernest Shonekan in Nigeria. The next day, the general announced that he was installing himself as ruler and would dissolve virtually every democratic institution in Nigeria. With one quick stroke, he dismantled a decade of Nigerian progress toward a system of elected government.

2) ARGENTINA: The Anti-Peron coup of 1955 was foiled because of a 10-minute delay in the appearance of warplanes, fog preventing the seaborne landings, and the last minute failure of political arrangements.

3) USSR: In August 1991, plotters quickly arrested Russian leader Mikahil Gorbachev. However, they missed arresting Boris Yeltsin by 40 minutes. This allowed him to get from his house to his office, from which he called for and helped lead the resistance, which thwarted the attempted coup.

2. Mechanics of the coup – how does a coup take place?

a. Five key elements:

1) Plotters form a small inner group, which supports the coup. This small core group plans and carries out the coup in complete secrecy.

2) Plotters build a reliable force beyond the inner group who can be positioned to implement the coup. They persuade key people to join the coup without tipping off those who might oppose it.

3) Before, during, and after the coup, the conspirators neutralize those forces that oppose the coup.

4) Once the coup is initiated, he intriguers use maximum speed in the transition so that opposition does not have time to build before they have consolidated their power.

5) Once power is taken, the conspirators work to convince the populace that the take-over was necessary and the new order is legitimate.

b. Armed forces often are relied upon. Why?

1) Army, police and/or security forces give the plotters means of coercion to overwhelm or neutralize their opposition.

2) Perceived advantages of using armed forces:

a) Units are located throughout the society.

b) Quick mobilization of large numbers possible.

c) They follow orders from the top down.

d) Are feared when they use or threaten force.

e) Are well-organized to carry out the many operations of the coup that have to be done almost simultaneously.

3) Plotters’ strategy in approaching the armed forces

a) Turn a few elements of the armed forces into ACTIVE PARTICIPANTS in the coup. Identify and recruit key individuals, usually officers who command units that can intervene directly and effectively at the time and place of the coup.

b) NEUTRALIZE the other elements. Rather than have to fight them, assure their neutrality so as to prevent their intervention during the limited time span of the coup.

c. The process of neutralizing potential opponents

1) Neutralizing the armed forces

a) Assess which elements will “ride out” the coup. No need to contact them. (Many will take a “wait and see” attitude, worrying about endangering their careers under their future employers if the coup is successful.)

b.) Assess which elements are “on the fence.” Persuade them to not intervene against the coup, if they will not join it.

c) Assess which elements are likely to oppose the coup actively. Be prepared to make lightening arrests of their leaders. Troops are less likely to move if commanders are under arrest. Prepare to disrupt their communications and close airports, railways, and city entry points to their forces.

2) Neutralizing the social/political sectors.

a) Prior to coup:

(1) Convince key leaders of important sectors (e.g., trade unions, political parties) to support the coup and encourage their members not to oppose it.

b) Upon initiation of coup:

1) Monopolize the means of communication. Communicate a credible message justifying the coup and call on the populace to support it. (For example, the Soviet putschists of August 1991 occupied the radio and TV stations and the newspapers and used them to broadcast their version of the coup. They also ordered all fax and copying machines and all video equipment to be turned over to them.)

(2) Have leading figures (union leaders, respected intellectuals, political figures, etc.) come out publicly in support of coup and ask their members to support it. Isolate, arrest, or assassinate leaders who might oppose the coup.

(3) Announce appointment of interim government with members chosen for widest possible public appeal (as well as loyalty to the coup).

3) Other key steps once the coup is initiated:

a) Use pre-arranged teams designed to move quickly to specific targets.

(1) Teams accompanied by the coup member associated with that target, e.g., the prospective new police chief goes with the team taking over the police station; the chief spokesman for the coup goes with the team hitting the TV station.

(2) Alert each team individually, with only as much advance warning as required to perform its particular task.

(3) Have one or more teams present a public show of force to demonstrate that the plotters are in control. (For example: the Soviet conspirers of August 1991 not only had military units and police occupy key facilities, but also ordered elite tank units into the streets.)

b) Arrest and assassinate key leaders of pre-coup government, especially those most dangerous in terms of likely opposition to the coup and ability to rally forces against it. (For example, the Soviet coup planners of August 1991 put Gorbachev under house arrest and tried to arrest Yeltsin.)

c) Impose a strict curfew to prevent street demonstrations or other signs of public opposition.

d) Seize, sabotage, or neutralize facilities. Have the military, police and/or security forces occupy key positions such as:

(1) Means of mass communication (radio, TV, print media)

(a) Need to achieve monopoly and means of communication.

(b) May mean seizing one particularly authoritative voice and sabotaging or “temporarily” closing the others.

(c) Impose strict censorship.

(2) Telecommunications (telephone, telex, telegraph, independent networks, etc.)

(a) Paralyze existing government communications system so they cannot speak to allies and rally forces.

(b) Keep popular opposition forces from communicating with one another.

(3) Transportation: city entry/exit road links, airports, railroads

(a) Station forces at all city entry/exit road links and at railroad facilities.

(b) Close airports and cancel all flights.

(c) Control prevents unexpected arrival of loyalist or unaffiliated forces.

(4) Government center and public buildings (parliament, leaders’ residences, ministry of defense, military HQ, etc.)

Purpose:

a) Enables arrest of key leaders.

b) Provides protection for coup leaders and their allies.

c) Tanks in center give evidence of coup’s power.

d) When coup controls buildings that symbolize the center of government, many people will assume its leaders now have political power.

d. Timing of the coup

1) Take advantage of favorable circumstances, e.g.

a) The temporary absence of political leaders from the capital. The Soviet conspirators of August 1991 timed their coup for when Gorbachev was on vacation outside the capital.

b) Riots or civil disturbances expressing dissatisfaction with the current government (e.g., food riots, marches of the unemployed.)

2) Move with maximum speed once the coup is initiated so that opposition does not have time to build.

BREAK (30 minutes)

DISCUSSION (10 minutes)

Trainer asks if there are any questions or comments from the previous session. Is everyone clear about the dynamics of coups, how coups take place?

OPTIONAL SMALL GROUP EXERCISE: BASED ON WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS’ KNOWLEDGE OR EXPERIENCE OF COUPS (1 hour, 15 minutes)

The following exercise may be used if participants have some direct knowledge or experience of coups. For example, there may have been one or more well-known attempts at a coup against the government of their own country or that of a country nearby.

1. Trainer explains the exercise

a. The purpose of the exercise is to draw on your own knowledge or actual experience of coups in order to deepen our understanding of how coups happen.

b. The focus of our exercise will be on the (attempted) coup which took place in (country) on (month/year).

c. We will divide into 4 small groups, each with a question to discuss about the coup.

d. After discussion in the small groups, we will come back together to hear reports from each group and have a general discussion.

2. Trainer divides the participants into 4 small groups.

3. Trainer’s instructions to the small groups.

a. Each group will have a question to answer about the coup.

b. Each group will have ½ hour to discuss the question.

c. Each group should name a recorder to write down the discussion and report back to the full session.

4. Questions for the small groups. (Trainer can write these questions on the newsprint)

a. Group #1: What were the goals and objectives of the coup planners? What were they trying to accomplish? Why did they say they wanted to overthrow the existing government? What was their political program, if any?

b. Group # 2: What methods did the conspirators use to try to carry out the coup? What strategies and tactics did they use in pursuit of their goals and objectives?

c. Group # 3: What were the strengths and weaknesses of the coup? Did it succeed? If so, why? Did it fail? Why?

d. Group # 4: How did citizens respond to the coup? Did they resist it? If so, how? If not, why not?

5. Small group discussion (30 minutes)

6. Session of the full group (30 minutes)

a. Each of the 4 small groups reports back to the full session.

b. Trainers write a summary of each report on newsprint.

c. Trainers lead a general discussion of the reports. Some questions they might ask to stimulate discussion are:

1) Are the reports clear? Do you have any questions for the recorders about their reports?

2) How do these reports increase our understanding of how coups happen?

WEAKNESS OF THE COUP (Trainer’s talk: 5 minutes)

1. As the above discussion of the coup makes clear:

a. The coup’s leaders need two things for success:

1) Legitimacy: The population’s acceptance of their moral and political rights or authority to rule.

2) Cooperation: The active assistance or passive cooperation from many elements of society to carry out their purpose.

b. A small group of military officers or other schemers cannot bring off the coup by themselves. They need active or passive cooperation from many sectors of society. For example, they need:

1) Units of the armed forces to support them, follow orders to make arrests, jail protestors, and, if necessary, to shoot into crowds, and carry out assassinations. They also need the other units to remain passive and not intervene to try to stop the coup.

2) Journalist and broadcasters to follow censorship; not disseminate unauthorized news, not be critical of coup or its leaders. Media technicians keep everything running normally.

3) Members of the telecommunications and transportation systems to follow their orders or at least not oppose them.

4) Key leaders of important sectors to support them or at least to be neutral.

5) The population to obey the coup leaders’ curfews, not to demonstrate against them, not to go on strike or commit other acts of civil disobedience.

c. If this cooperation and submission is not forthcoming, then coup backers cannot achieve their objectives.

d. The conspirators live in fear of defiance and repudiation:

1) That someone will rally the population into mass resistance to the coup.

2) That key sectors (e.g., the media, telecommunications) will not cooperate and will in fact use control of their technical means against the coup.

2. This defiance is exactly what happened in Russia in August 1991 and in other parts of the world where the population has successfully resisted coups.

a. In these instances, people simply refused to cooperate with the new order and instead defied it.

b. Power, therefore, does not lie in the conspirators’ guns and tanks. Power lies in the refusal of the people to submit.

c. Defiance and refusal to submit to injustice or to cooperate with oppressive rule is the essence of nonviolence, as we will see in our next session.

OPEN DISCUSSION (10 minutes)

1. Trainers ask the group: Do you have any reactions to what has been said so far? Can you see how power lays not so much in guns as in people’s refusal to submit to the guns?

2. Back and forth discussion between trainers and participants.

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