Aself-coup, also called anautocoup (from Spanishautogolpe) orcoup from the top, is a form ofcoup d'état in which a political leader, having come to power through legal means, stays in office or vastly increases their power illegally through the actions of themselves or their supporters.[1] The leader may dissolve or render powerless the nationallegislature and unlawfully assumeextraordinary powers. Other measures may include annulling theconstitution, suspendingcivil courts, and having thehead of government assumedictatorial powers.[2][3]
From 1946 to the beginning of 2021, an estimated 148 self-coup attempts took place, 110 inautocracies and 38 indemocracies.[4]
^Chin, John J; Carter, David B; Wright, Joseph G (2021). "The Varieties of Coups D'état: Introducing the Colpus Dataset".International Studies Quarterly.65 (4):1040–1051.doi:10.1093/isq/sqab058.ISSN0020-8833.
^Tufekci, Zeynep (December 7, 2020)."This Must Be Your First".The Atlantic.In political science, the termcoup refers to the illegitimate overthrow of a sitting government — usually through violence or the threat of violence. The technical term for attempting to stay in power illegitimately — such as after losing an election — isself-coup orautocoup, sometimesautogolpe
^Hlengiwe Portia Dlamini (2019).A Constitutional History of the Kingdom of Eswatini (Swaziland), 1960–1982. Springer Nature, pp. 279. ISBN 978-3-030-24776-8. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-24777-5.
^Maidanik, K. L. (Summer 2000).«He-запад»: современный транзит и перспективы демократизации ["Non-West": modern transition and prospects for democratization](PDF).Полития (in Russian).2 (16): 100.В последнее десятилетие – чуть ли не впервые за полтора века – в регионе не произошло ни одного успешного военного переворота. Имели место, правда, один «самопереворот» (президент разогнал парламент) и один случай переноса выборов. [In the last decade – almost for the first time in a century and a half – there has not been a single successful military coup in the region. There has, however, been one 'self-coup' (the president dissolved parliament) and one case of postponed elections.]
^Pedrosa, Fernando; Noce, Cecilia; Povse, Max (2021).Desafíos actuales de Asia oriental [Current challenges in East Asia] (in Spanish). Eudeba.ISBN9789502331188.
^Barry S. Levitt (2006), "A Desultory Defense of Democracy: OAS Resolution 1080 and the Inter-American Democratic Charter,Latin American Politics and Society, Volume 48, Issue 3, September 2006, Pages: 93–123. pp104-5
^Harvey, Michael (2022). "Introduction: History's Rhymes". In Harvey, Michael (ed.).Donald Trump in Historical Perspective. Routledge. p. 3.doi:10.4324/9781003110361-1.ISBN978-1-003-11036-1.As with the Beer Hall Putsch, a would-be leader tried to take advantage of an already scheduled event (in Hitler's case, Kahr's speech; in Trump's, Congress's tallying of the electoral votes) to create a dramatic moment with himself at the center of attention, calling for bold action to upend the political order. Unlike Hitler's coup attempt, Trump already held the top of the office, so he was attempting to hold onto power, not seize it (the precise term for Trump's intended action is a 'self-coup' or 'autogolpe'). Thus, Trump was able to plan for the event well in advance and with much greater control, including developing the legal arguments that could be used to justify rejecting the election's results.
^Castañeda, Ernesto; Jenks, Daniel (April 17, 2023). Costa, Bruno Ferreira; Parton, Nigel (eds.)."January 6th and De-Democratization in the United States".Social Sciences.12 (4).MDPI: 238.doi:10.3390/socsci12040238.ISSN2076-0760.What the United States went through on January 6th was an attempt at a self-coup, where Trump would use force to stay as head of state even if abandoning democratic practices in the U.S. Some advised Trump to declare martial law to create a state of emergency and use that as an excuse to stay in power.
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Central America: PresidentManuel José Arce (October 10, 1826)[5]
France: PresidentLouis-Napoléon Bonaparte (December 2, 1851)[6]
Uruguay: PresidentJuan Lindolfo Cuestas (February 10, 1898)[7]
Austria: ChancellorEngelbert Dollfuss (March 15, 1933)[8]
Germany: ChancellorAdolf Hitler (March 23, 1933 /August 2, 1934)[6][9]
Estonia: Prime Minister in duties of the State ElderKonstantin Päts (March 12, 1934)[11]
Brazil: PresidentGetúlio Vargas (November 10, 1937)[12]
Romania: KingMichael I of Romania (August 23, 1944)[14]
Bolivia: PresidentMamerto Urriolagoitía (May 16, 1951)[15]
Pakistan: Governor-GeneralGhulam Muhammad (April 1953 – September 21, 1954)[16][17]
Indonesia: PresidentSukarno (July 5, 1959)[18]
Nepal: KingMahendra (December 15, 1960)
Thailand: Prime MinisterThanom Kittikachorn (November 17, 1971)
Philippines: PresidentFerdinand Marcos (September 23, 1972)[6][19]
South Korea: PresidentPark Chung Hee (October 17, 1972)[20]
Swaziland: KingSobhuza II (April 12, 1973)[21][22]
Poland: Prime MinisterWojciech Jaruzelski (December 13, 1981)
Peru: PresidentAlberto Fujimori (April 5, 1992)[23]
Russia: PresidentBoris Yeltsin (September 21, 1993)[a]
Cambodia: Prime MinisterHun Sen (July 1997)[28][29]
Venezuela: PresidentNicolás Maduro (March 29, 2017)[30]
Malaysia: Prime MinisterMuhyiddin Yassin (29 February 2020)[34]
El Salvador: PresidentNayib Bukele (May 1, 2021)[38]
Tunisia: PresidentKais Saied (July 25, 2021)[39][40][41]
Sudan: Chairman of theSovereignty CouncilAbdel Fattah al-Burhan (October 25, 2021)[42]
Guatemala: PresidentJorge Serrano Elías (May 25 – June 5, 1993)[43]
United States: PresidentDonald Trump (November 4, 2020 –January 6, 2021; afterelection loss)[46][47][48]
Israel: Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu (ongoing events, since he assumed office on December 29, 2022)[b]
South Korea: PresidentYoon Suk Yeol (December 3–4, 2024)[59][60]
Turkey: PresidentRecep Tayyip Erdoğan (ongoing events culminating in thearrest of Ekrem İmamoğlu on March 19, 2025)[61]
The dictionary definition ofself-coup at Wiktionary