eli5 How does a coup d’etat actually work?

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Basically title, because I saw an article from BBC that a few people tried to seize power in Germany. Do they get the power just by occupying the building? Do other states recognise this? What happens to the constitution and the law? Is is a lawless state while they create a new constitution?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Occupying the building isn’t sufficient. A coup d’etat actually involves removing people from positions of governmental leadership and, optionally, replacing them with other people, but always outside of the methods described by law. In order to be successful, it isn’t enough to say “I now have the power” — the organs of government actually have to treat you like you do.

The “outside the methods described by law” part is what differentiates a coup from just an election.

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