selfcoup

A self-coup, also called an autogolpe, occurs when a sitting head of state or government uses emergency powers or other legal pretexts to seize control of state institutions and govern without a new mandate from elections. The aim is to preserve the appearance of legality while eroding checks and balances and extending personal rule.

Common mechanisms include dissolving or sidelining the legislature, purging or subordinating the judiciary and security services, suppressing critical media, suspending constitutional guarantees, and delaying or rigging elections to secure continued dominance.

Fujimori's 1992 autogolpe in Peru is a canonical example, when President Alberto Fujimori dissolved Congress and restructured the judiciary under emergency powers, arguing it was needed to fight terrorism and economic collapse. He later pushed a new constitution that strengthened executive authority.

Similar patterns appeared in Brazil under Getúlio Vargas in 1937, when he canceled the existing constitution, dissolved Congress, and established the Estado Novo dictatorship, using decrees and control of agencies to centralize power (though some accounts frame it as a legal reform displacing the regime).

In Russia, the 1993 constitutional crisis is often described as an autogolpe or constitutional coup, in which President Boris Yeltsin dissolved Parliament and used force against the legislature as part of a broader power struggle that culminated in a new constitution.

Scholars emphasize that the line between a self-coup and legitimate constitutional action can be blurry. Red flags include the rapid consolidation of power through emergency powers, erosion of judicial independence, suppression of opposition, and the refusal to acknowledge electoral limits.

Impact and legacy vary, but self-coups frequently destabilize democracies, provoke domestic resistance, and invite international condemnation, while in some cases they inaugurate extended periods of authoritarian rule or civil conflict.