Self-coup
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A self-coup or autocoup is a form of coup d'état that occurs when a country's leader dissolves or renders powerless the national legislature and assumes extraordinary powers not granted under normal circumstances. Other measures taken may include annulling the nation's constitution and suspending civil courts. In most cases the head of state is granted dictatorial powers.
One of the best modern examples of the self-coup is elected Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori's takeover of the government on April 5, 1992, ostensibly to exercise absolute authority in annihilating Maoist Shining Path insurgents, though political opponents and journalists were arrested by the military. A historical example was the coup d'état of Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, who granted himself emergency powers and later conducted a referendum in which he became Napoleon III.
Germany offers another example, in Adolf Hitler's infamous Enabling Act, 1933, and the process of Gleichschaltung, consolidating the power of the Nazi party (NSDAP).
[edit] List of self-coups
- First Mexican Empire: Emperor Agustín (October 31, 1822)
- France: President Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte (December 2, 1851)
- Brazil: President Deodoro da Fonseca (November 3, 1891)
- Mexico: President Gen. Victoriano Huerta (October 7, 1913)
- Italy: Prime Minister Benito Mussolini (January 3, 1925)
- Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes: King Alexander I (January 6, 1929)
- Germany: Chancellor Adolf Hitler (March 23, 1933)
- Uruguay: President Gabriel Terra (March 31, 1933)
- Estonia: Prime Minister Konstantin Päts (March 12, 1934)
- Latvia: Prime Minister Kārlis Ulmanis (May 15, 1934)
- Chile: President Arturo Alessandri Palma (February 1936)
- Brazil: President Getúlio Vargas (November 10, 1937)
- Bolivia: President Maj. Germán Busch (April 24, 1939)
- Paraguay: President Gen. José Félix Estigarribia (February 18, 1940)
- Uruguay: President Alfredo Baldomir (February 21, 1942)
- Ecuador: President José María Velasco Ibarra (March 30, 1946)
- Paraguay: President Higinio Morínigo (January 13, 1947)
- Morocco: King Muhammad V (May 20, 1960)
- Nepal: King Mahendra (December 15, 1960)
- Brunei: Sultan Sir Omar Ali Saifuddin (December 12, 1962)
- Morocco: King Hassan II (June 7, 1965)
- Uganda: Prime Minister Milton Obote (February 22 and 23, 1966)
- Lesotho: Prime Minister Chief Leabua Jonathan (January 30, 1970)
- Ecuador: President José María Velasco Ibarra (June 22, 1970)
- Thailand: Prime Minister Field Marshal Thanom Kittikachorn (November 17, 1971)
- Philippines: President Ferdinand Marcos (September 21, 1972)
- South Korea: President Park Chung-hee (October 1972)
- Swaziland: King Sobhuza II (April 12, 1973)
- Upper Volta: President Gen. Sangoulé Lamizana (February 8, 1974)
- Bolivia: President Hugo Banzer (November 7, 1974)
- India: Prime Minister Indira Gandhi (June 25, 1975)
- Bahrain: Emir Sheikh Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa (August 26, 1975)
- Poland: Prime Minister Wojciech Jaruzelski (December 13, 1981)
- Peru: President Alberto Fujimori (April 6, 1992)
- Guatemala: President Jorge Serrano Elías (May 25, 1993; failed)
- Russia: President Boris Yeltsin (October 3, 1993)
- Lesotho: King Letsie III (August 17, 1994)
- Nepal: King Gyanendra (October 4, 2002)
- Nepal: King Gyanendra (February 1, 2005)
- Pakistan: President Gen. Pervez Musharraf (November 3, 2007)
