Regime change

Regime change is the replacement of one government regime with another. Use of the term dates to at least 1925.  Regime change may replace all or part of the state's most critical leadership system, administrative apparatus, or bureaucracy.

It can be the deliberate product of outside force, as in warfare.  Rollback is the military strategy to impose a regime change by defeating an enemy and removing its regime by force.  Regime change can occur through inside change caused by revolution, coup d'état or reconstruction following the failure of a state.

Popular use
The term regime change is sometimes erroneously used to describe a change in the government of the day. It can also be applied to bodies other than nation states.

The transition from one political regime to another, especially through concerted political or military action, as was done in World War II to Italy, Germany, and Japan (also known as the Axis Powers). The term has been popularized by recent US presidents. Ronald Reagan had previously called for regime change in Libya, directing the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to work towards that goal. Bill Clinton and George W. Bush regularly used the term in reference to Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq.

Internal regime change
Regime change can be precipitated by revolution or a coup d'état.  The Russian Revolution, the 1962 Burmese coup, the 1953 Jammu and Kashmir coup, the Iranian Revolution and the 1990 dissolution of the Eastern Bloc are consummate examples.

Examples of internally driven regime change are the establishment of the French Fifth Republic (1958) and the Federation of Australia.

Foreign-imposed regime change 
The deposition of a regime by a foreign state. This deposition can be achieved through covert means such as in the 1989 United States invasion of Panama or by direct military action. Interstate war can also culminate into a foreign-imposed regime change for the losers, as it did in Germany and Japan in 1945. Foreign-imposed regime change are sometimes used by states as a foreign policy tool. There have been over forty foreign-imposed leadership changes between 1915 and 2004.

During the Cold War, the United States frequently intervened in elections and engaged in attempts at regime change, both covertly and overtly.

In academic use 

In addition to the above uses, the term 'regime change' can also be used in a more general sense, particularly in academic work, to refer to a change in political institutions or laws that affect the nature of the system as a whole.  For example, the end of the Bretton Woods system was a regime change in the international system, as was the repeal of the National Mandatory Speed Limit in the United States.  Regime changes are often viewed as ideal opportunities for natural experiments by social scientists.

Role of the United States 

The United States has frequently intervened in elections and engaged in attempts at regime change, both covertly and overtly.  Often, such operations are tasked to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

See also
 Active measures (in Soviet Union and Russia)
 Covert operations
 Rollback
 History of the Central Intelligence Agency
Russia involvement in regime change

References

External links
 Encarta Dictionary
 Word Spy: Regime Change
 Vijay Prashad, "The History of Regime Change and Its Ground Rules," The Hindu, May 31, 2016. http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/the-history-of-humanitarian-intervention-and-its-ground-rules/article8668707.ece

Category:1925 introductions
Category:Words coined in the 1920s
Category:Causes of war
Category:Aftermath of war
Category:Changes in political power
Category:Revolution terminology