{ "model": { "rank": 1986, "code": "thing-q45382", "model_id": "vr.tr.coup-d-tat", "name": "coup d'état", "purpose": "Let an agent explain coups d etat and their types, relay research on causes, frequency and consequences from political science sources with attribution, describe international responses, and distinguish coups from revolutions, civil wars, impeachments and elections, without providing guidance for planning or executing one.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Activities and processes", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "ACT", "domain": "ACT.ACT", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q45382/", "tier": 2, "score": 119, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [ "attempted coup d'état", "1989 Guatemalan coup attempt", "soft coup", "shukun oshikome", "bloodless coup d'état", "promissory coup", "Counter-coup", "Coupvolution", "pronunciamiento", "1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt", "gekokujō", "military coup", "1918 Ukrainian coup d'état", "self-coup", "Incident of 1873", "palace coup", "Venezuelan coups d'état" ], "aliasCount": 17, "merged": 17, "knownIn": 119, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": null, "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q45382", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q45382", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-13T05:23:20Z", "providers": [ "Claude" ], "breadth": "written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify", "pass": 2, "wave": 3, "engine": "claude" }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q45382", "registryId": "vr.tr.coup-d-tat", "name": "coup d'état", "version": "0.2.0-wave.3", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "ACT.ACT" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q45382/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.coup-d-tat", "name": "coup d'état", "purpose": "Let an agent explain coups d etat and their types, relay research on causes, frequency and consequences from political science sources with attribution, describe international responses, and distinguish coups from revolutions, civil wars, impeachments and elections, without providing guidance for planning or executing one.", "definition": "The sudden, illegal seizure of governmental power by a small group, typically military officers or political insiders, using or threatening force, in forms ranging from bloodless coups and self-coups by incumbents to attempted and failed coups, soft coups through institutional pressure, and promissory coups justified by promises of elections, with historical cases from Latin America, Africa, Asia and Europe and traditional forms such as the Japanese shukun oshikome, the forced confinement of a lord; coups are studied in political science and condemned by international organisations.", "what_it_is_for": "Not applicable; a political event type.", "affordances": [ "explain types", "relay research", "describe international responses", "distinguish related events" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Sudden and illegal", "Small group", "Force or threat", "Regime change or consolidation" ], "appearance": "Not a visible object; a seizure of power.", "visual_identification": [ "Sudden illegal seizure of state power", "Military coups, bloodless coups, self-coups, attempted coups, soft coups, promissory coups, historical forms such as shukun oshikome", "Revolutions are mass movements; impeachment is constitutional; civil wars are prolonged conflicts" ], "physical_properties": [ { "quantity": "coups since 1950", "typical_range": "about 500", "unit": "count", "note": "Powell and Thyne data, roughly half successful" }, { "quantity": "recent wave", "typical_range": "2020s", "unit": "period", "note": "Sahel region" } ], "families_and_kinds": [ "military coups", "bloodless coups", "self-coups or autogolpes", "attempted and failed coups such as the 1989 Guatemalan attempt", "soft coups and promissory coups", "historical forms such as palace coups and shukun oshikome" ], "related_models": [ { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "regime change", "why": "in registry terms" }, { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "conflict", "why": "in registry terms" }, { "relation": "is contrasted with", "target": "revolution", "why": "a mass uprising" }, { "relation": "is studied in", "target": "political science", "why": "through coup datasets" } ], "identifiers": [], "standards_and_regulation": [ "International condemnation and suspension rules such as the African Union anti-coup norm", "Constitutional provisions against unconstitutional changes of government", "Foreign aid restrictions following coups" ], "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Agents providing operational guidance", "Partisan labelling of contested events", "Confusing coups with revolutions or legal transfers" ], "in_scope": [], "out_of_scope": [], "characteristics": [] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "understand", "name": "Understand", "description": "What a coup is.", "rationale": "Attribution.", "layers": [ { "id": "definition", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-finding", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition.", "questions": [ { "text": "What is a coup d etat, and how does it differ from revolution, civil war, impeachment and election?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Is the question about understanding coups, or about planning or executing one, which the model does not cover?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "types", "name": "Types", "description": "Types.", "findings": [ { "id": "types-finding", "name": "Types", "description": "Types.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do military, bloodless, self, attempted, soft and promissory coups differ, and what was shukun oshikome?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Which entry fits the specific type or event?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "research", "name": "Research", "description": "Research.", "rationale": "Attribution.", "layers": [ { "id": "causes", "name": "Causes", "description": "Causes.", "findings": [ { "id": "causes-finding", "name": "Causes", "description": "Causes.", "questions": [ { "text": "What does research say about the causes of coups and coup-proofing, with findings attributed?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which references are standard?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "consequences", "name": "Consequences", "description": "Consequences.", "findings": [ { "id": "consequences-finding", "name": "Consequences", "description": "Consequences.", "questions": [ { "text": "What are the consequences of coups for democracy, economies and human rights, as studies report?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which sources are cited?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "response", "name": "Response", "description": "Responses.", "rationale": "Regulation.", "layers": [ { "id": "international", "name": "International", "description": "International responses.", "findings": [ { "id": "international-finding", "name": "International", "description": "International.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do the UN, African Union and other bodies respond to coups, and what debates exist, with positions attributed?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Is the presentation neutral?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "law", "name": "Law", "description": "Law.", "findings": [ { "id": "law-finding", "name": "Law", "description": "Law.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do constitutions and international law treat unconstitutional changes of government?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits unconstitutional change of government?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "context", "name": "Context", "description": "History and cases.", "rationale": "Context.", "layers": [ { "id": "history", "name": "History", "description": "History.", "findings": [ { "id": "history-finding", "name": "History", "description": "History.", "questions": [ { "text": "How have coups shaped 20th and 21st-century history, with cases attributed to historians?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits the specific coup?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "culture", "name": "Culture", "description": "Culture.", "findings": [ { "id": "culture-finding", "name": "Culture", "description": "Culture.", "questions": [ { "text": "How are coups portrayed in literature and film?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits political fiction?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Should self-coup and military coup be separate primary entries?", "How should political science sources be linked?", "The registry entry has merged aliases naming a specific attempt and a Japanese historical practice; should they be split off?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 4, "layers": 8, "findings": 8, "questions": 16 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "abstract concept", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.", "facetsInferred": true, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a coup d'état, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Let an agent explain coups d etat and their types, relay research on causes, frequency and consequences from political science sources with attribution, describe international responses, and distinguish coups from revolutions, civil wars, impeachments and elections, without providing guidance for planning or executing one.", "characteristics": { "substance": "activity", "origin": "conceptual", "agency": "inert" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "observed and measured" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Names folded into this entry, which a task may need to split apart again: attempted coup d'état, 1989 Guatemalan coup attempt, soft coup, shukun oshikome, bloodless coup d'état, promissory coup, Counter-coup, Coupvolution, pronunciamiento, 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, gekokujō, military coup.", "17 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.", "Described in 119 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a coup d'état, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "something that happens over time", "physicalCharacter": [ "Does nothing on its own; everything it does, something else did to it.", "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "observe it, measure it, record its state" ], "howItIsRecognised": [ "Nothing to see. What is recognised is an instance of it, and which instances count is exactly what is argued about." ], "relatedModels": [ { "relation": "covers", "note": "Finer kinds folded into this entry because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it. Each is a model waiting to be split out when one does.", "targets": [ "attempted coup d'état", "1989 Guatemalan coup attempt", "soft coup", "shukun oshikome", "bloodless coup d'état", "promissory coup", "Counter-coup", "Coupvolution", "pronunciamiento", "1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt", "gekokujō", "military coup" ] } ], "standing": "Described in 119 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 17 finer distinctions are held inside this entry as names rather than as separate models.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one coup d'état from another, and a coup d'état from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a coup d'état, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a coup d'état, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a coup d'état is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a coup d'état, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a coup d'état, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a coup d'état is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a coup d'état sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a coup d'état, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a coup d'état, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a coup d'état is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a coup d'état from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a coup d'état, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a coup d'état, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a coup d'état is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a coup d'état passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a coup d'état between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a coup d'état, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a coup d'état, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a coup d'état is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a coup d'état, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a coup d'état is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a coup d'état, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a coup d'état, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a coup d'état is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "process-and-outcome", "name": "Process, inputs and outcome", "description": "How a coup d'état proceeds, what it needs and what it leaves behind.", "rationale": "An activity is known by its steps and its results, and both have to be recordable while it is still running.", "layers": [ { "id": "steps-and-sequence", "name": "Steps and sequence", "description": "The steps of a coup d'état, their order and what may run in parallel.", "findings": [ { "id": "steps-and-preconditions", "name": "Steps, preconditions and completion", "description": "What has to be true before each step of a coup d'état and what marks it done.", "questions": [ { "id": "steps-and-preconditions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a step of a coup d'état, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "steps-and-preconditions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a step of a coup d'état, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "steps-and-preconditions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a step of a coup d'état is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "inputs-and-results", "name": "Inputs, resources and results", "description": "What a coup d'état consumes and what it produces.", "findings": [ { "id": "inputs-and-outputs", "name": "Inputs, outputs and side effects", "description": "The resources a coup d'état takes and the results it leaves, wanted or not.", "questions": [ { "id": "inputs-and-outputs-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the inputs and results of a coup d'état, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "inputs-and-outputs-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the inputs and results of a coup d'état, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "inputs-and-outputs-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the inputs and results of a coup d'état is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "definitions-in-contest", "name": "Definitions and who holds them", "description": "What coup d'état is taken to mean, and by whom.", "rationale": "When a field disagrees about a concept, the disagreement is the content. A model that picks one definition silently destroys the information.", "layers": [ { "id": "competing-definitions", "name": "Competing definitions", "description": "The main readings and the traditions behind them.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-map", "name": "Definitions and their holders", "description": "Each definition with the school or body that holds it.", "questions": [ { "id": "definition-map-q01", "text": "Which definitions of coup d'état are in use, and which tradition or body holds each?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "definition-map-q02", "text": "What turns on the difference between them in practice?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "operationalisation", "name": "Operationalisation", "description": "How it is measured or applied when it has to be.", "findings": [ { "id": "operational-record", "name": "Measures and proxies", "description": "Instruments and indicators used to stand in for it.", "questions": [ { "id": "operational-record-q01", "text": "How is coup d'état operationalised or measured in practice, and by what instrument?", "kind": "measurement" }, { "id": "operational-record-q02", "text": "What does that operationalisation leave out, and when does that matter?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "instances-and-use", "name": "Instances, use and consequence", "description": "What counts as an instance of coup d'état and what follows from calling something that.", "rationale": "Applying a concept is an act with consequences, so a model must say what the label licenses and what it does not.", "layers": [ { "id": "instances", "name": "What counts as an instance", "description": "Clear cases, borderline cases and non-cases.", "findings": [ { "id": "instance-tests", "name": "Tests for an instance", "description": "What would settle whether something falls under it.", "questions": [ { "id": "instance-tests-q01", "text": "What would settle whether something is an instance of coup d'état?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "id": "instance-tests-q02", "text": "Which borderline cases are argued about, and on what grounds?", "kind": "definition" } ] } ] }, { "id": "consequence", "name": "Consequence of application", "description": "Rights, duties or decisions that follow from the label.", "findings": [ { "id": "consequence-record", "name": "What the label licenses", "description": "What an agent may do once something is classified this way.", "questions": [ { "id": "consequence-record-q01", "text": "What follows practically once something is treated as coup d'état?", "kind": "action" }, { "id": "consequence-record-q02", "text": "What must an agent not infer from the label alone?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a coup d'état came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a coup d'état and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a coup d'état, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a coup d'état, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a coup d'état is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a coup d'état is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a coup d'état, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a coup d'état, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a coup d'état is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 6, "layers": 12, "findings": 14, "questions": 38 } } } }