Coups d'état
At the beginning of the 20th century, sociologist Max Weber noted that the modern bureaucratic state apparatus, “through its internally rationalized structure [...] has replaced ‘revolutions’ with ‘coups d'état.’” Weber's observation remains as relevant as ever. We are currently witnessing yet another momentous shift. In Europe and the United States, the classic coup d'état is being replaced by the gradual transformation of the constitution in the form of its hollowing out from within, the dynamic erosion of the rule of law and the separation of powers as a whole, driven by elected governments. “Democratic decline begins at the ballot box today,” write political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt in their book How Democracies Die (2018).
From coups staged in front of rolling cameras to the use of social media to attack the separation of powers, autocratic seizures of power often resemble political theater. It is therefore not surprising that they have been filmed so often. The series Coups d'état presents documentaries, feature films, and essay films from the last 20 years that show political upheavals from very different perspectives. What unites them is the attempt to narrate political events as complex interwoven stories, while questioning the cultural shifts in power that accompany them. What do coups d'état have to do with the rise of authoritarianism and traditional images of masculinity? To what extent are they interwoven with developments in society as a whole and with individual fates beyond politics? What traces do coups leave behind and how are they remembered? What new perspectives can a postcolonial view of coups d'état open up? And how can coups d'état be told cinematically at all?
The film series Staatsstreiche (Coups d'État) is a collaboration with the Mosse Lectures at Humboldt University in Berlin, which will take a historical and systematic look at the topic in the winter semester of 2025/26. Prominent scholars and authors from Germany and abroad are invited to participate. Founded in 1997 by historian George L. Mosse, the Mosse Lectures are an interdisciplinary and international event project that, with its motto of “publicity for culture and science,” commemorates the history and heritage of the German-Jewish Mosse family and is open to all interested parties.
