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https://theconversation.com/what-is-a-self-coup-south-korea-presidents-attempt-ended-in-failure-a-notable-exception-in-a-growing-global-trend-235738>
"Something unexpected – but hardly unprecedented – happened in South Korea on
Dec. 3, 2024. With little warning, President Yoon Suk Yeol declared emergency
martial law, citing the threat from “pro-North Korean anti-state forces.”
The move, which appeared more about curtailing efforts by the main opposition –
the center-left Democratic Party – to frustrate Yoon’s policy agenda through
their control of parliament, left many South Koreans stunned. As one Seoul
resident told reporters: “It feels like a coup d'état.”
That interviewee wasn’t far off.
As scholars of authoritarian politics and authors of the colpus dataset of coup
types and characteristics, we have spent countless hours documenting the
history of coups d’état since World War II.
Yoon’s short-lived martial law declaration – it lasted just a few hours before
being lifted – was an example of what political scientists call an “autogolpe,”
or to give the phenomenon its English name, a “self-coup.”
Our data shows that self-coups are becoming more common, with more in the past
decade compared with any other 10-year period since the end of World War II.
What follows is a primer on why that’s happening, what self-coups involve – and
why, unlike in around 80% of self-coups, Yoon’s gambit failed."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
