The Democratic Coup d'État

The Democratic Coup d’Etat opens with a simple statement of its controversial premise: “Sometimes democracy is established through a military coup.” In the ensuing 200 pages, Ozan Varol’s new book presents a nuanced examination of the factors that comprise a military coup and how it may (may) result democracy: the makeup of the military forces, the relationship between the military and the governing dictatorship, the relationship between the populace and the military after the coup. Anyone interested in the creation and maintenance of functioning democracies will find valuable insights within its pages.One of the first striking things about the book is encountering the sheer number of dictatorships in recent world history. The book is rife with examples illustrating different causes and outcomes of military coups, ranging from the recent events in Turkey to Burkina Faso in 2014, Romania under Ceausescu, Portugal in 1974, Peru in 1975, Brazil in ’45, Guatemala in ’44, and many others.But the events of the Arab Spring provide the most prominent touchstone in the book. Partially inspired by the events in Cairo in 2011, where the Egyptian military toppled of longtime dictator Hosni Mubarak following months of popular protests against the regime, the book frequently returns to this recent example of how the military may play a role in both installing and overthrowing a democratically-elected government.Varol’s description of the factors that create a military coup are fascinating. I had never before considered the difference between a “military state” and a “police state,” and how that affects civilians’ attitudes to the armed forces. Another interesting chapter analyzes how a military decides to support or crush a burgeoning democratic movement, comparing volunteer military forces to “citizen-soldiers” serving mandatory conscription and likely to have closer ties to members of a popular uprising.While reading the first sections of the book, I wondered what lessons democratic activists could learn from this history. A late chapter, “Between Scylla and Charbydis,” provides a helpful analysis. There, Varol describes the difficult passage civilians must navigate in a post-coup society: the military will demand from the new government certain “exit benefits,” such as structuring the new civilian government to grant the military greater power in domestic affairs, in exchange for handing control back to the people. If civilians wish to negotiate against the military’s demands, they will have to do so without provoking a heavy-handed backlash from the armed forces. Varol suggests civilians can take anticipatory action for these circumstances and describes bargaining positions, such as “sunset dates” that gradually reduce military involvement in politics. Subsequent chapters in the book further describe this kind of high-stakes society-wide hostage negotiation, as well as the organizing that civilian political parties must do to gain and maintain popular support and establish a balanced civil-military relationship.The book is valuable not just for its analysis of the ways militaries interact with democratic institutions, but for its description of how civilians can build democratic institutions that withstand antidemocratic forces and prevent military coups. Following foreign events like the Arab Spring from afar can be difficult, but Varol breaks down military involvement in these uprisings in clear and engaging chapters. The Democratic Coup d’Etat is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the dynamics underlying contemporary democracy.

Ozan provides a well researched, thoroughly convincing argument. With solid examples from numerous perspectives, his title thesis becomes very difficult to refute. My only criticism is that the prose leans academic. To someone very interested in the topic, this is an engaging read. My struggle with this book is that I didn't find the fundamental thesis difficult to believe. While the examples provided were still new (to me) and interesting, I did not get to enjoy the frequent "aha" moments that I desire when reading nonfiction.If you look at a question like, "Why would a military leader willingly hand power over to the people after a successful coup?" and think "I have to learn more!" then this book is for definitely for you. It will address that, and many other thought provoking questions on the subject.

This book takes you through a well documented and riveting journey that covers coups throughout global history. The journey, and topic, seem rather timely with the current global climate as we see countries around the world edging closer and closer to authoritarian practices (or fully embracing those practices with shameless abandon).

A fantastic, well-written account supporting a counter-intuitive thesis with a catalogue of insightful historical vignettes in support. Varol combines a deep, at times first-hand understanding of the social forces that influence political and military actors in struggling states with a storyteller's wit and clarity. His book beautifully weaves together seemingly unrelated events into a coherent whole, distilling the complexities of power transitions the world over into a few common themes that support the possibility that, at times, a coup d'état is good for democracy.

Coherent writing backed by plenty of historical events. It really helped me to think from a new perspective.

This is a great book by a new author. Ozan Varol takes a very complex and nuanced topic, pulls it apart, and eloquently explains how the default conventional wisdom of assuming all coups are bad, is wrong. This is a fresh perspective, written in a compelling and accessible way, where you don’t need a political science or law degree to understand the argument.

Ozan's thesis will undoubtedly become the consensus. You'll finish the book and ask how coups d'etats could have been understood any other way. Smart and precise writing punctuated with thoughtful personal anecdotes. I am looking forward to more from this this author!