"Coups d'état are one of the main ways in which new dictatorships
are established. ... A coup d'état is a rapid seizure of physical and political control of the state apparatus by illegal action of a conspiratorial group backed by the threat or use of violence."
"Massive efforts and sums of money are regularly devoted to
prepare to resist foreign aggression. Yet, virtually nothing is done
to prepare societies to deal with the defense problem of coups d'état,
despite their frequency in world politics."
"Sometimes coups have been executive usurpations: an established head of state (president or prime minister, for example), falsely claiming an emergency, acts to suspend constitutional government and establish a dictatorship."
"The group initiating the coup usually intends to use the power
of the section of the state which it already controls (or over which it
expects at first to gain control) against the other sections in order to gain complete control of the state. ...
... Often the other sections readily
capitulate. They may do this in face of perceived overwhelming
forces supporting the coup. ...
... They may also capitulate because they
do not strongly support the established government, have active sympathy for the putschists, or feel helpless, not knowing what else
they can do."
"Where democratic constitutional procedures exist, are respected, and provide for peaceful institutionalized means to resolve internal conflicts, to change governments, and to hold government officials accountable, a coup d'état will be less likely."
"In many constitutional democracies it has been assumed that if the constitution and the laws prohibit coups d'état, then the democracy is safe. That is demonstrably not true, as too many countries have discovered to their peril."
"Attention to how coups d'état work and how they can be defeated
teaches us much. Together they show that there is no need to be
passive and helpless in face of these blows against freedom and jus-
tice. Defense can be waged by the attacked society itself."
"The first basic principle of anti-coup defense is therefore to deny
legitimacy to the putschists.

...
... The putschists also require that the civilian leaders and population
be supportive, confused, or just passive. ...

.
... The putschists addition-
ally require the cooperation of specialists and advisors, bureaucrats and civil servants, administrators and judges in order to consolidate their control over the society. ...
... Journalists and broadcasters, printers and technicians are required to do as they are told. Police, prison
officials, and soldiers need to follow orders to make arrests, jail pro-
testers, and execute people as commanded. ...
... The putschists also require that a multitude of people who operate the political system, the society's institutions, and the economy will passively submit and carry out their usual functions as modified by the putschists' orders and policies."
The second basic principle of anti-coup defense is to resist the
putschists with noncooperation and defiance.
Therefore, an anti-coup policy is focused on defense of the society
by the society itself, not on defense of points of geography, nor even
governmental buildings. ...
... Geography and buildings are ultimately important to coup leaders only when possession is accompanied by human assistance.
Under an anti-coup policy, the resisters will aim to:

• Repudiate the putschists as illegitimate with no rightful claim to
become the government;
• Make the attacked society unrulable by the attackers;
• Block the imposition of viable government by the putschists;
• Maintain control and self-direction of their own society;
• Make the institutions of the society into omnipresent resistance
organizations against a coup;
• Deny to the putschists any additional objectives;
• Make the costs of the attack and attempted domination unacceptable;
• Subvert the reliability and loyalty of the putschists' troops and
functionaries and induce them to desert their mutinous officers;
• Encourage dissension and opposition among the putschists' supporters;
• Stimulate international opposition to the coup by diplomatic, economic, and public opinion pressures against the attackers; and
• Achieve international support in communications, finances, food,
diplomacy, and other resources.
The general technique that has been most effective in anti-coup de-
fense is nonviolent struggle. This avoids fighting the putschists with
military weapons, with which the usurpers usually have the advan-
tage. ...
The weapons, or methods, of nonviolent struggle—such as
strikes, boycotts, types of political noncooperation, and mutiny—
are not to be applied randomly. ... .
... These methods instead will be most effective if they are applied as component parts of a comprehensive, carefully chosen strategy of anti-coup defense.
"A well-prepared defense capacity against coups d'état can consti-
tute a formidable deterrence against would-be putschists. ...
This deterrence capacity is completely dependent upon a cred-
ible capacity to wage effective resistance against coups d'état. ...
... Hence, the only way to prepare deterrence of internal usurpations is to lay the groundwork for strong noncooperation and defiance against such attacks.
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