palace coups
Internal regime changes
Palace coups are seizures of power that occur within a ruling group rather than through popular uprising or external invasion.
The term evokes the image of conspirators moving through royal corridors—a change of leadership accomplished by insiders, not outsiders.
A general replaces a dictator, a board ousts a CEO, a faction deposes a party leader: The company's palace coup left the founder with no role.
The plural form is more common than the singular, perhaps because such takeovers recur throughout history.
- overthrowForcible removal from power
- usurpationWrongful seizure of power
- regimesSystems of government
- regicideMurdering a monarch
- power vacuumAbsence of governing authority
intrigue · conspiracy · plot · dethronement · takeovers · succession crisis · changing of the guard · behind closed doors · machinations · smoke-filled rooms · power struggles · throne room · revolution · governments · military junta · political instability · putsch · deposition
- court intrigueintrigue, plots, schemes, plotting, conspiracy
- Romanov RussiaPeter the Great, Catherine the Great, Romanov, tsar, tsars
- Five Dynastiesmilitary governors, Nanjing, northern China, emperors, rulers
palace coupsdemocratic elections
Voting by the populace
electoral mandates · plebiscites · parliamentary procedures · impeachment proceedings · abdications