If a government has a coup/collapses, do the new coup leaders automatically represent the government in the UN?

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If a government has a coup/collapses, do the new coup leaders automatically represent the government in the UN?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Often, yes.

As has been said by earlier commenters, countries are members of the UN. Governments, heads of state, and heads of government are not.

Normally, a successful change of government, even if violent or extra-constitutional, carries with it a transfer of the ability to send and receive ambassadors. If this ability isn’t seriously contested by the previous government, it won’t be contested by the UN either.

However, if there is a serious contest, the UN General Assembly might vote on which government to recognise. The vote of each member country’s delegation would naturally mirror the foreign policy of the government of that member country.

It’s my understanding that such a vote was how Taiwan lost its UN seat. Taiwan as such was never expelled; the General Assembly changed its mind on whether the government in Taipei or the government in Beijing was the rightful government of all of China (mainland plus Taiwan).

The [UN Charter](https://www.un.org/en/about-us/un-charter/full-text) also provides an option to suspend or expel a member. But again this requires a conscious decision, and doesn’t automatically happen just because the new government took power in an illegal and unconstitutional, or even violent, manner.

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