A Coup’s Fruition

Abstract This chapter is a counterpoint to game theory models of coup dynamics that discount ideas and beliefs as influential in the accomplishment of coups. It argues that Zimbabwe’s 2017 coup was a vote of no confidence in Robert Mugabe’s presidency by former 1970s liberation war veterans who held decisive army and air force command posts when the coup occurred. The enduring resonance of gendered ideas, as well as beliefs derived from traditional religion, in the military, which both have substantial roots in Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle, among independence war veterans in the army and air force helps explain why they broadly agreed to support the coup, and why the coup was not reversed by armed actors with liberation war experience in the military. Ideas and beliefs are significant determinants of coup success. The chapter employs ‘a feminist curiosity’, to expose the profoundly gendered character of ideas that helped ensure the coup’s success.