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How did the Republic of Venice go 486 years without a single coup d’état or coup attempt? Is it the same force that has generated stability in Britain since 1746, in the United States since 1776, and in a growing number of nations around the world? This thoughtful and engaging book offers the first extended analysis of coups, which have played a central role in world history and politics. Ivan Perkins draws on his extensive research on the history and inner workings of coups to explain how a small but growing number of nations have escaped chronic violence and built states with perpetually peaceful transfers of power. Readers will explore the rising coup-free zone, from the baroque system behind 486 years of stability in Venice to today’s heavy-handed but efficient regime in Singapore. Along the way, the author recounts some of history’s most gripping political intrigues: the spontaneous street uprising against King Tarquinius Superbus in Rome, the machinations of Bengali officials that launched the British Empire, and the fears that compelled General Pinochet to join a coup and become dictator of Chile. Perkins examines in detail the first three coup-free states. He argues against the standard theory of stability, which holds that professional military officers are so thoroughly trained in ethics and civilian control that leading a coup would be unthinkable. Instead, he proposes a new and simpler interpretation: stability is founded not on ethics but on law. An impartial rule of law weakens personal loyalty relationships, especially within the political-military establishment, and inhibits grand criminal conspiracies. The book concludes with a new explanation for the “democratic peace” and shows why coup-free states form enduring alliances.

This dissertation is a work of historical sociology, with a theoretical foundation in evolutionary biology. I first make a case for directly connecting the study of human behavior to the fields of evolutionary biology, human physiology, and neuroscience. The dissertation then explores the evolutionary, reproductive logic behind the male use of force and physical intimidation to achieve social status, which (I contend) is a universal, instinctual feature of human psychology. By honor, I mean the persona of power and physical intimidation. In a political context without a strong, impartial police and judicial presence, males frequently attain power and status by demonstrating aggressive postures and a willingness to fight. The “decline” of honor occurred gradually and incrementally, as states began to systematically monopolize the use of force. As this happened, society at large became individuated. This means that the tight clusters of intense personal solidarity (primarily within factions bound by ties of kinship, patronage, and friendship), that tend to be hostile and suspicious of outsiders, were dissolved over time. Individuation can account for one of the most distinctive and important structural features of modern politics: the absence of coups d'état. This dissertation traces the historical emergence of these tandem processes of state-formation and individuation, as they developed first and most systematically in England, over the last thousand years. I explain how they resulted from the pressures of warfare within the European state system. I connect my formulation of individuation to the development of impersonal bureaucratic organizations, and to the emergence of a flourishing civil society. State-formation, individuation, bureaucratization, and civil society all work hand in hand, each helping to strengthen the economic and military power of a political unit. I argue that these processes were highly likely to emerge at some point in the course of human history, and that, alongside these processes, some form of what we call “liberal” political ideas, and democratic political systems, were highly probable developments. I show why and how these processes have, over time, rippled outward from their original appearance in England, progressively reshaping social relations over wider portions of the globe.