<
https://theconversation.com/rory-cormacs-how-to-stage-a-coup-is-an-entertaining-critique-not-a-how-to-manual-189532>
"
Review: How to Stage a Coup and Ten Other Lessons from the World of Secret
Statecraft – Rory Cormac (Atlantic Books).
In Katie Kitamura’s brilliant novel
Intimacies (2022), the story of a former
African dictator being tried in the International Criminal Court, there is a
summary of the case against the accused:
The national electoral commission and outside observers called the election
in favor of the accused’s opposition. The accused refused to cede power […]
He then indulged in some creative accounting, nullifying the votes in
districts where his opponent polled strongly, ordered the army to close the
borders, and barred all foreign media. The accused then […] formed an army
of mercenaries and began a process of ethnic cleansing, leading to death
squads and mass graves.
When I read this, I thought it was a chilling but generic story of autocracy in
action. It reminded me of the arresting claim in Jess Hill’s essential book on
the subject of domestic violence
See What You Made Me Do – that abusers
follow such a familiar pattern it is as if they have a manual.
The same could be said of dictators when they defy election results,
constitutional processes, and the rule of law. They follow a well-trodden path
from mendacity to violence, so much so that the formula has been set out in
Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt’s bestseller
How Democracies Die (2019).
From a delightful podcast interview with Kitamura, however, I learnt that the
case detailed in her novel was not generic, but based on the actions of
Laurent Gbagbo, the former president of Ivory Coast. Kitamura had travelled to
The Hague to sit in the viewing gallery and watch Gbagbo’s trial before the
International Criminal Court.
Can a “coup” be staged by a leader clinging to power when election results have
gone against them? The answer is yes. Donald Trump has provided the most
obvious recent example of an attempt to overthrow due process, the
Constitution, and other branches of government.
Rory Cormac’s
How to Stage a Coup places Trump’s actions into a much longer
history of nefarious behaviour by leaders and nations. The focus of the book is
largely on what states covertly do to other states, rather than what dangerous
leaders inflict upon their own people. But in the age of cyber warfare, Cormac
wisely contends that populist politics at the national level creates internal
divisions that are more easily exploited by foreign enemies."
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
