Royalty And Military Coups

The recent death of former Pakistani President and General Pervez Musharraf brought something to my attention that I cannot see has been pointed out.

A coup is an attempt to overthrow a government from within the country, as opposed to a foreign invasion. Across the world coup attempts happen all the time. Most are unsuccessful.

As we might expect, coups often involve the military since the military has weapons. A number of countries in the world are led by military governments. Such governments are generally disapproved of by democracies, since a military government hardly ever comes to power by way of a free election. Military governments almost always gain political power by seizing it forcefully, in other words a coup.

It is not uncommon, considering the entire world, for a country to have been ruled by it's military for a period of time, with power eventually returning to civilian control. Many countries have been through one or two military coups in their history. 

But there are a few countries where the military operates almost like part of the government. When the military leadership feels that the civilian government isn't working as it should it seizes power, usually bloodlessly, but ultimately returns power to a civilian government.

Several countries fall into this category of having had more than one military coup in the modern era. But the coups seem almost like part of the system. The coups are always successful, bloodless or nearly bloodless, and control is eventually returned to a civilian government, almost always after elections have been held.

The first two countries that come to mind are Pakistan and Nigeria. Egypt has had a president from the military since the last king was overthrown. The exception was that Muhammad Morsi was allowed to win election after the Arab Spring but the military staged a coup and removed him. 

Myanmar's military seized power and then another military government seized power from the first one. The democratic rule of Aung San Suu Kyi represented a much-awaited return to civilian control. But the military took advantage of an election that the rest of the world believes that she won and they lost to seize power again.

What I cannot help noticing is that the countries where occasional military coups seem like a regular part of the political system is those that were under British influence during the imperial era. In Britain it seems as if the monarch does not have any actual power. But the king or queen is the one to break a deadlock in government, if it should ever be necessary.

What happens in countries like Pakistan and Nigeria is that the lead general takes on the role of the monarch, outside the government but ready to step in when necessary, until it is decided that the country is ready to move forward with new elections.