Coup d'État: A Practical Handbook - Softcover

Luttwak, Edward N.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0674175476 ISBN 13: 9780674175471

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 1979

Synopsis

The coup is the most frequently attempted method of changing government, and the most successful. Coup d’État outlines the mechanism of the coup and analyzes the conditions―political, military, and social, that gives rise to it. In doing so, the book sheds much light on societies where power does indeed grow out of the barrel of a gun and the role of law is a concept little understood.

About this title

About the Author:

Edward N. Luttwak serves or has served as a contractor for the Office of Net Assessment of the U.S. Department of Defense and for the U.S. armed forces, and as a consultant to the U.S. National Security Council, the White House Chief of Staff, and several allied governments.

Review:

This short book is...wicked, truthful, and entertaining. The author, after outlining a step-by-step procedure for bringing about a coup, analyzes modern (post–Second World War) coups, and points out why some succeeded and others failed. (New Yorker)

An extraordinarily competent and well-written work, displaying very wide knowledge of the ways in which coups, both successful and unsuccessful, have actually been organized. (Times Literary Supplement)

Coup d'État demonstrates that scholarly analysis can be good social science and at the same time fun to read. It is nontechnical in approach and informal in style... Moreover, Edward Luttwak's familiarity with the basic concepts and problems of political science is evident throughout. He is seldom superficial and never trivial in his treatment of his subject. The result is a book of value to everyone interested in the sudden changes of government that occur so frequently in many parts of the world and also curious as to why they so often seem to result in more of the same... We can all have the satisfaction of understanding the strategies and techniques employed, and we can enjoy learning them from this lucid and witty book. (Virginia Quarterly Review)

About this edition

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 1979
• ISBN 10: 0674175476
• ISBN 13: 9780674175471
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 215