The Global Instances of Coups Dataset tracks coup attempts around the world from 1950 to the present. The dataset identifies cases in which actors within the state apparatus — most commonly members of the military or security services — attempt to remove the sitting national executive through unconstitutional means. It includes both successful and failed coup attempts, providing a systematic basis for studying one of the most consequential forms of political instability in the modern era.
The dataset was originally introduced by Jonathan M. Powell and Clayton L. Thyne in the Journal of Peace Research in 2011 and has since become one of the most widely used sources for cross-national research on coups and civil-military relations. The project is currently managed by Powell and Salah Ben Hammou.
The initial goal of the dataset was to distinguish coups from related but conceptually different events such as civil wars, protests, assassinations, foreign invasions, or mutinies that do not seek to seize executive power. Upcoming updates by Powell and Ben Hammou will expand the data to include a number of important characteristics of the events.
Our team regularly develops coup forecasts, utilizing an expanded version of the Global Instances of Coups data, other original data, and near-real time updates of dozens of variables important to the study of political instability. While our primary forecasts are proprietary, we offer periodic updates of an open “light” version of the model on this website as part of Global Coups.
We also present a beta version of an interactive tool that allows users to see how changes in individual variables impact countries’ coup forecasts. This was developed by two cohorts of students at the University of Kentucky, led by Clayton Thyne and Jonathan Powell with support from the Transdisciplinary Educational approaches to advancing Kentucky (TEK) program.