The Democratic Coup D'�tat

Oxford Univ Pr. New. New Oxford Univ Pr, 2017 New The term coup d'�tat--French for stroke of the state--brings to mind coups staged by power-hungry generals who overthrow the existing regime, not to democratize, but to concentrate power in their own hands as dictators We assume all coups look the same, smell the same, and present the same threats to democracy

It's a powerful, concise, and self-reinforcing idea It's also wrong

In The Democratic Coup d'�tat, Ozan Varol advances a simple, yet controversial, argument: Sometimes, a democracy is established through a military coup Covering events from the Athenian Navy's stance in 411 BC against a tyrannical home government, to coups in the American colonies that ousted corrupt British governors, to twentieth-century coups that toppled dictators and established democracy in countries as diverse as Guinea-Bissau, Portugal, and Colombia, the book takes the reader on a gripping journey

Connecting the dots between these neglected events, Varol weaves a balanced narrative that challenges everything we thought we knew about military coups In so doing, he tackles several baffling questions: How can an event as undemocratic as a military coup lead to democracy? Why would imposing generals-armed with tanks and guns and all-voluntarily surrender power to civilian politicians? What distinguishes militaries that help build democracies from those that destroy them?

Varol's arguments made headlines across the globe in major media outlets and were cited critically in a public speech by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Written for a general audience, this book will entertain, challenge, and provoke, but more importantly, serve as a reminder of the imperative to question the standard narratives about our world and engage with all ideas, no matter how controversial