Assistant Professor of Government Erica De Bruin published a chapter in an edited volume on the military in politics titled "Counterbalancing and Coups d'etat." It appeared online in November as part of the Oxford Research Encyclopedia series, and will also be published in print in the edited volume, Oxford Research Encyclopedia of the Military in Politics, edited by William R. Thompson and Hicham Bou Nassif, in the coming year.
The chapter surveys what we know about counterbalancing -- a coup-prevention strategy in which rulers divide the state's coercive power among multiple, overlapping security forces. It identifies temporal and geographic trends its use, describes ongoing debates about its effectiveness, and identifies directions for future research. The chapter can be read online here.
