Coup d’etat is the sudden and violent overthrow of a government by an unelected military or civilian power. This type of event usually requires a small group to gain control over the armed forces, police, and other security elements of a state in order to succeed. It is different from a revolution in that it rarely alters a nation’s basic social and economic policies or redistributes power among competing political groups.

A coup d’etat can lead to different outcomes, from a stable democracy to dictatorship or civil war. Historically, dictators often manage to survive coup attempts by keeping the insurrection at a level that does not threaten their regime with violent escalation. Using tactics such as censorship, intimidation, and repression, they maintain support from the elites of society. This strategy can be eroded, however, once the insurrection reaches the size of a civil war.

Many upheavals are labeled as coups d’etat when they do not qualify, such as a royal overthrow or a constitutional change that does not affect the power balance of a political system. Dictatorships imposed through a coup d’etat usually seek to legitimize their rule with popular plebiscites and claim to be the defender of national unity. These types of dictatorships are referred to as Bonapartism, named after Julius Caesar, the Roman dictator who rose to power through a coup and then ruled with an authoritarian approach.