Coup d'État: A Practical Handbook | Edward N. Luttwak

Coup d’État astonished readers when it first appeared in 1968 because it showed, step by step, how governments could be overthrown. Translated into sixteen languages, it has inspired anti-coup precautions by regimes around the world. In addition to these detailed instructions, Edward Luttwak’s revised handbook offers an altogether new way of looking at political power―one that considers, for example, the vulnerability to coups of even the most stable democracies in the event of prolonged economic distress.

The world has changed dramatically in the past half century, but not the essence of the coup d’état. It still requires the secret recruitment of military officers who command the loyalty of units well placed to seize important headquarters and key hubs in the capital city. The support of the armed forces as a whole is needed only in the aftermath, to avoid countercoups. And mass support is largely irrelevant, although passive acceptance is essential. To ensure it, violence must be kept to a minimum. The ideal coup is swift and bloodless. Very violent coups rarely succeed, and if they trigger a bloody civil war they fail utterly.

Luttwak identifies conditions that make countries vulnerable to a coup, and he outlines the necessary stages of planning, from recruitment of coconspirators to postcoup promises of progress and stability. But much more broadly, his investigation of coups―updated for the twenty-first century―uncovers important truths about the nature of political power.

About the Author

Edward N. Luttwak was born in Arad, Romania, and educated in schools in Palermo, Sicily and in England. Attended the London School of Economics (BSc) and Johns Hopkins (PhD). Luttwak has served as a consultant to the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the National Security Council, the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force; he ihas been an adviser to Treaty Allies of the United States. He founded and directs a conservation cattle ranch in the Bolivian Amazon, and is the author of various books and more articles including: The Rise of China viz the Logic of Strategy, Strategy: The Logic of War and Peace, The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire, The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire, The Endangered American Dream, and, Turbo-Capitalism: Winners and Losers in the Global Economy.