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Self-coup

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A self-coup or autocoup is a form of coup d'état that occurs when a country's leader, who has come to power through legal means, 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.

Modern example 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 French President Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, who granted himself emergency powers and later conducted a referendum in which he became Emperor 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).


List of self-coups

  • Niger: President Mamadou Tandja (June 29, 2009)


References

  1. ^ See Constitutional Reforms of Lucius Cornelius Sulla
  2. ^ See Caesar's civil war
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