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Excerpts From Coup d'Etat: A Practical Handbook By Edward Luttwak (Harvard University Press, 1968. Page citations are from the 1979 paperback edition.) Comments within are this editor's, not the author's. Bolded segments are emphasized by this editor, not the author. Italicized comments not within brackets are emphasized by the original author.
Edward Luttwak was a special national security advisor to President Reagan. He also has numerous ties to think tanks with known connections to US intelligence. Currently, he works for the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, DC. For a brief bio of Luttwak at the CSIS site, see http://www.csis.org/html/4luttwak.html.
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Ch. 1 — What Is a Coup D'Etat?
"A coup d'etat involves some elements of all these different methods by which power can be seized but, unlike most of them the coup is not necessarily assisted by either the intervention of the masses, or, to any significant degree, by military-type force.
"The assistance of these forms of direct force would no doubt make it easier to seize power, but it would be unrealistic to think that they would be available to the organizers of a coup.
"If a coup does not make use of the masses, or of warfare, what instrument of power will enable it to seize control of the state? The short answer is that the power will come from the state itself...
"A coup consists of the infiltration of a small but critical segment of the state apparatus, which is then used to displace the government from its control of the remainder."
from the author's Preface to the 1979 ed.
"The overt corruption commonly found in states reveals the full consequences of the absence of political community. Only from the latter can effective norms arise, norms felt in the consciousness of each citizen. Without political community, the state is no more than a machine. It is then that the coup d'etat becomes feasible since, as with any machine, one may gain control over the whole by seizing hold of the critical levers."
Ch. 2 — When is a Coup D'Etat Possible?
"The social and economic conditions of the target country must be such as to confine political participation to a small fraction of the population."
"The target state must be substantially independent and the influence of foreign powers in its internal political life must be relatively limited."
"The target state must have a political centre. If there are several centres these must be identifiable and they must be politically, rather than ethnically, structured. If the state is controlled by a non-politically organized unit, the coup can only be carried out with its consent or neutrality."
"The growth of the modern bureaucracy has two implications which are crucial to the feasibility of the coup: the development of a clear distinction between the permanent machinery of state and the political leadership, and the fact is, like most large organizations, the bureaucracy has a structured hierarchy with definite chains of command...
"The importance of this development lies in the fact that if the bureaucrats are linked to the leadership, an illegal seizure of power must take the form of a 'Palace Revolution' and it essentially concerns the manipulation of the person of the ruler. He can be forced to accept to policies or advisors, he can be killed or held captive, but whatever happens the Palace Revolution can only be conducted from the 'inside', and by 'insiders'...
"The coup is a much more democratic affair. It can be conducted from the 'outside' and it operates in that area outside the government but within the state which is formed by the permanent and professional civil service, the armed forces and police. The aim is to detach the permanent employees of the state from the political leadership, and this cannot usually take place if the two are linked by political, ethnic or traditional loyalties."
"...he state bureaucracy has to divide its work into clear-cut areas of competance, which are assigned to different departments. Within each department there must be an accepted chain of command, and standard procedures have to be followed. Thus a given piece of information, or a given order, is followed up in a stereotyped manner, and if the order comes from the appropriate source, at the appropriate level, it is carried out.
"...The apparatus of the state is therefore to some extent a 'machine' which will normally behave in a fairly predictable and automatic manner.
"A coup operates by taking advantage of this machine-like behavior: during the coup because it uses parts of the state apparatus to seize the controlling levers; afterwards because the value of the 'levers' depends on the fact that the state is a machine."
"The dialogue between the rulers and the ruled can only take place if there is a large enough section of society which is sufficiently literate, well fed and secure to 'talk back'. Even then certain conditions can lead to a deterioration of the relationship, and this can sometimes generate sufficient apathy and distrust of the regime to make a coup possible."
"All power, all participation, is in the hands of the small educated elite. This elite is literate, educated, well-fed and secure, and therefore radically different from the vast majority of their countrymen, practically a race apart. The masses recognize this and they also accept the elite's monopoly on power, and unless some unbearable exaction leads to desperate revolt they accept its policies. Equally they will accept a change in government, whether legal or otherwise. After all, it is merely another lot of 'them' taking over.
"Thus, after a coup, the village policeman comes to read out a proclamation, the radio says that the old government was corrupt and that the new one will provide food, health, schooling — and sometimes even glory. The majority of the people will neither believe nor disbelieve these promises or accusation, but merely feel that it is all happening somewhere else, far away. This lack of reaction is all the coup needs on the part of the people to stay in power.
"The lower levels of the bureaucracy will react — or rather fail to react — in a similar manner, and for similar reasons. ...The 'bosses' give the orders, can promote or demote and, above all, are the source of that power and prestige that make them village demi-gods. After the coup, the man who sits at district headquarters will still be obeyed — whether he is the man who was there before or not — so long as he can pay the salaries and has links to the political Continued>>>>
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