Coup, What Coup?

The ongoing Brexit catastrophe in the United Kingdom has many of the hallmarks of a coup, despite the lack of military intervention. Colin Talbot looks at the current situation and how it mirrors what has gone on in countries that have suffered more foreful authoritarian takeovers.

In other examples of the creeping dethronement of democracy far more extreme tactics have been deployed. Restriction of civil liberties, attacks on civil society organisations, capture of state and independent media organisations, and at its most extreme extra-legal ‘direct action’ have all been employed to further authoritarian rule.

The UK is not there yet – although there are some worrying signs. An MP has been killed and others intimidated out of office. This has a corrosive long-term effect.

The incremental nature of the new authoritarianism is both a strength, and a weakness. It means it is often harder to recognise when boundaries have been crossed and critical changes introduced.

Readers in the US who think that this is not their problem might want to consider a scenario where Trump loses the 2020 election by a slim margin and declares the election illegitimate and refuses to cede the presidency.