“Coup d’etat” is a French term that means “a blow to the state.”

Richard Mansbach, professor of political science, said a coup is an overthrow of the state. The number of people involved in a coup is less than in widespread activities, such as a revolution or a civil war. Opposition may or may not have the public’s sympathy, he said.

Mansbach said if a coup is successful, very few people will die — but a coup can lead to a civil war.

Take over communication

In the past, coup leaders seized control of the post office first because it gave leaders control of means of communication.

“Now, the first thing is to take control of the information — TV stations, the radio, press,” Mansbach said. “The point is to make sure the other party cannot be heard.”

Eric McGlinchey, assistant professor of political science, said when a coup was attempted in the former Soviet Union, coup leaders took over the media station first.

“When regular broadcasting is interrupted by ‘Swan Lake’ or some ballet, you know something is wrong,” McGlinchey said.

Unseat present leadership

The next step is to get rid of the current leader.

Mansbach said whoever is leading a coup, whether civilian or military, usually seizes government buildings and takes the current leader out of power.

McGlinchey said a military force willing to enter politics is fundamental to staging a coup. He said the reason an attempted coup in the Soviet Union in 1991 to overthrow leader Mikhail Gorbachev failed was that people in the coup were unsure the military would come in on their side.

Haiti is experiencing an attempted coup, even without a military presence. Haiti’s army was disbanded in 1994, with help from the United States.

Former military leaders are coming back to Haiti and getting involved now to help overthrow Haiti’s current president, Jean Bertrand Aristide.

Aristide, no stranger to opposition, was ousted by a coup in 1991 after other attempted coups failed, but he was reinstalled by the United States in 1994. Aristide is currently ruling alone with no parliament because the past parliament expired. Flawed parliamentary elections in May 2000 deprived Haiti of international aid.

Steffen Schmidt, university professor of political science, said Haitians opposed to Aristide are frustrated because they cannot run in free elections and claim the most recent election was corrupt.

He said there are three main players right now: Aristide and his armed supporters, civilian party opposition and their armed supporters and former military thugs.

Conditions leading to a coup

Political unrest in Haiti is also the result of the current condition of the country.

Mansbach said the ratio of the number of people to the amount of natural resources is poor. Haiti has a large reproductive rate, which leads to a high unemployment rate and large, poor families, he said.

“It all has to do with how devastatingly poor the country is,” said Kay Steneroden, adjunct instructor for the Center of Food Security and Public Health, who was in Haiti last summer doing veterinary medicine research.

She said Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, and with the conditions most Haitians are under, it would be hard to be happy.

Opposition groups rejected a plan proposed by the United States Tuesday that would have kept Aristide in power but elected a new government and prime minister to share power with him.

What is going on in Haiti is not a coup, Schmidt said, because a coup is a more organized and structured effort to unseat the president. He said a coup is usually coordinated and centralized, but what is happening in Haiti is more spontaneous — groups are working to take the power of the government gradually.

“It is more like the beginning of a civil war,” Schmidt said.