Civil Resistance Against Coups

Nations are not helpless

if the military decides to stage a coup. On dozens of occasions in recent

decades, even in the face of intimidated political leaders and international

indifference, civil society has risen up to challenge putschists through

large-scale nonviolent direct action and noncooperation. How can an

unarmed citizenry mobilize so quickly and defeat a powerful military

committed to seizing control of the government? What accounts for the

success or failure of nonviolent resistance movements to reverse coups and

consolidate democratic governance?

This monograph presents in-depth case studies and analysis intended to

improve our understanding of the strategic utility of civil resistance against

military takeovers; the nature of civil resistance mobilization against coups; the

role of civil resistance against coups in countries’ subsequent democratization

efforts (or failure thereof). It offers key lessons for pro-democracy activists

and societies vulnerable to military usurpation of power; national civilian and

military bureaucracies; external state and non-state agencies supportive of

democracy; and future scholarship on this subject.