Journalist Steve Richards examines how political leaders are overthrown. Is he offering suggestions relevant to other kinds of leader such as Sepp Blatter or Rupert Murdoch?
Steve Richards writing in The Independent states that there are ‘iron laws that apply if a party wants to dislodge a leader’. While I would prefer the term working principles, the three ‘laws’ he propounds make a great deal of sense.
He argues that for a successful coup:
1 There has to be at least one popular alternative candidate
2 the risks are considerably lower than those for retaining the incumbent leader
3 The coup must not generate bloody internal battles.