Coups are becoming a thing of the past

Three reasons:

The end of the Cold War meant not only that global powers were less likely to be actively fomenting coups, he says, but also that would-be coup plotters couldn’t bank on assistance after taking power.

Democratic and economic development changed the calculus. “Coups are expensive, they’re dangerous,” Thyne says. “Particularly if you can just wait for the next election.”

International organizations like the Organization of American States and the African Union have “set strong precedents that this stuff is not going to be tolerated,” Powell says.