Why do generals attempting to coup always storm the palace? What happens next? Why do ordinary soldiers follow them? Are they in on the plot?
In: Economics
All governments that have control over their territory enjoys these 3 ‘inherent powers’ as they are called, because they are required to be able to effectively govern the land:
1. The Power of Taxation – That the Government has the right to demand the citizens to pay for the services they provide.
2. The Power of Eminent Domain – That the Government has effective control of the territory that they claim and can thus develop it accordingly.
3. Police Power – That the government can enforce the laws they pass.
All of these inherent powers come from the fact that they’re needed for the state to function but also from the fact that they have a ‘monopoly on violence’.
This “monopoly on violence” is simply a way of saying that only the government has the right to use force as a means of getting what they want – that since they can in theory shoot people just because, then they can pretty much do whatever they want. Of course in practice they employ all kinds of laws and restrictions on these, but that’s pretty much what it is.
Now, what’s important here isn’t really how the monopoly on violence is used, only that it’s used by the government. For as long as they control this monopoly, then they remain in power within that country. However, since someone has to manage that monopoly, if that person decides to then turn against the “legitimate, de jure” government, then that person effectively becomes the “illegitimate, de facto” government. This usually translates to a general deciding that they want to be the new king and their army generally nodding in agreement and then begin enforcing their new rules, taking their own taxes, etc. until the de jure government effectively loses all control of their country – they can’t enforce a law if the police and military decides that they don’t want to, and they don’t have the power to force the police and military to enforce their law.
This is why coups happen more often in countries with a centralized military and, more importantly, with Generals and other Military officers at the top. Because then it’s clear who the actual holder of the “Monopoly” is and their turning on the government means that the government no longer has the means to fight back.
It’s also why it’s extremely difficult to organize a coup d’etat in a country like the US – because the military is so big and disorganized, you’d have to take control of so many people that it becomes unfeasible, and failure to do so means that it will fail.
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