Executive Summary

Coups d’état are a type of political instability that involves a sitting ruler being overthrown by his or her own military or other elite within the state apparatus. Coups are commonly viewed as a threat to democracy. Policy makers in donor countries have taken action in line with this belief by implementing foreign aid suspension policies in regard to states that recently experienced a coup. More recent research, however, shows that coups may actually promote democracy; particularly in long-standing autocratic states. In these circumstances, the new democracies may benefit more from an increase in aid, as opposed to suspension of aid. In the present study, I investigate whether successful coups and the level of democracy affect development aid receipts. Based on relevant literature, I developed a model to predict development aid receipt. The model includes successful coups, democracy level, as well as various economic and social indicators as explanatory variables. I evaluated coups and development aid during the time period 1960 to 2007. Panel data was constructed using data from th