The Coup Agency and Mechanism data comprise global data on military coups and coup attempts, covering all countries in the period 1950-2018. It builds on the previous data collection effort by Powell and Thyne (2011). We cross-validate these data and introduce original variables on coup agency. We focus exclusively on military coups which we define as illegal and overt attempts by military officers to unseat sitting executives.

For more details, see Albrecht, Holger, Kevin Koehler, and Austin Schutz. 2021. 'Coup Agency and Prospects for Democracy,' forthcoming in International Studies Quarterly.

We are updating the dataset periodically as coups occur. If you think we missed a coup, or if you find a coding mistake, please get in touch with us.

Help us keep the CAM data updated. The map below shows the coups which are included in the updated list, but not yet in the dataset itself. Please get in touch if you think we missed a coup or if you disagree with a coding decision.

The Endgame and Endgame Coup data provides information on anti-authoritarian mass-uprisings since 1945 as well as on military coups occurring in such contexts. Revolutionary situations are defined as all those episodes in which "sustained, cross-sectoral episodes of popular mass mobilization create a fundamental challenge to the means of power maintenance in non-democratic regimes" (see Albrecht & Koehler 2020).

We use four operational criteria to identify revolutionary situations in non-democratic regimes: (a) protests are large in terms of numbers, exceeding 50,000 participants, or 3% of the population; (b) protests are sustained, lasting at least one week and possibly several months, unless they are cut short by the resignation of the state’s chief executive or violent repression; (c) protests are socially inclusive and cross-sectoral, representing more than one particular social group (tribe, clan, religious community, class, and interest group); and (d) the target of the protests is the regime incumbent in a sovereign, non-democratic state (see Albrecht & Koehler 2020).