Publications
Book
John J. Chin, Joseph G. Wright, and David B. Carter. Historical Dictionary of Modern Coups D'état. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield (2022).
Description: This two-volume book is the essential reference work containing historical narratives on each coup attempt and biographical material on all major coup leaders worldwide from 1946 to 2021. It is useful for scholars and students of coups d'état, civil-military relations, political instability, and regime change. The book may be read as a qualitative companion and historical documentation for the Colpus dataset. It is part of the series "Historical Dictionaries of War, Revolution, and Civil Unrest" edited by Jon Woronoff.
Available for purchase by your library from the publisher or Amazon among other retailers. Named one of the "Best Historical Materials" published in 2022 or 2023 by the American Library Association. See their review here.
Academic Articles
John J. Chin and Haleigh Bartos. “Rethinking U.S. Africa Policy Amid Changing Geopolitical Realities.” Texas National Security Review 7, no 2 (2024).
John J. Chin, Kiron Skinner, and Clay Yoo. "Understanding National Security Strategies through Time." Texas National Security Review 6, no. 4 (2023): 103-124.
John J. Chin and Jessica Kirkpatrick. "African Coups D'etat in the Covid-19 Era: A Current History." Frontiers in Political Science 5 (2023): 1-20.
Joan C. Timoneda, Abel Escriba-Folch, and John J. Chin. “The Rush To Personalize: Power Concentration After Failed Coups in Dictatorships.” British Journal of Political Science (2023): 1-24.
John J. Chin, Wonjun Song, and Joseph G. Wright. “Personalization of Power and Mass Uprisings in Dictatorships.” British Journal of Political Science 53, no. 1 (2023): 25-44.
John J. Chin, Abel Escriba-Folch, Wonjun Song, and Joseph G. Wright. “Reshaping the Threat Environment: Personalism, Coups, and Assassinations.” Comparative Political Studies 55, no. 4 (2022): 657-687.
Jonathan Pinckney and John J. Chin. “Activists Against Autocrats: TSMO Networks and Democratic Diffusion.” Frontiers in Political Science 3 (2021): 1-15.
John J. Chin, David B. Carter, and Joseph G. Wright. “The Varieties of Coups D'etat: Introducing the Colpus Dataset.” International Studies Quarterly 65, no. 4 (2021): 1040-1051.
John J. Chin. "The Longest March: Why China's Democratization Is Not Imminent." Journal of Chinese Political Science 23, no. 1 (2018): 63-82.
Book Chapters
John Chin. "Nonviolent Revolution in China: Past and Prospects," Chapter 32 in Routledge Handbook of Chinese Studies, Chris Shei and Weixiao Wei eds. Routledge (2021): 465-478.
Review Essays
John J. Chin. “Should the U.S. promote (illiberal) democracy in the Middle East?” Frontiers in Political Science 7 (2025): 1513807.
Other Publications (Policy / Blog / Commentary / Online Articles)
John J. Chin. “Serbia is once again trying to oust an authoritarian. What can we learn from its past success?” Waging Nonviolence, March 20, 2025.
John J. Chin and Kevin Zheng. “The Lasting Legacy of Taiwan’s 1990 Wild Lily Movement.” The Diplomat, March 16, 2025.
Joshua Schwartz, John J. Chin, and Haleigh Bartos. “How Drones Make Civil War Worse.” Lawfare, March 16, 2025.
John J. Chin. "An Unlikely Democracy: The Legacy of Mongolia's 1990 Revolution." The Diplomat, March 13, 2025.
Joseph Wright and John J. Chin. “What happens when leaders have loyalists in charge of men with guns: Lessons for the US from Nicaragua, Syria and other authoritarian countries.” The Conversation, March 11, 2025.
John J. Chin and Mirren Hibbert. “Hungary and the Future of Europe.” The Loop, March 3, 2025.
Haleigh Bartos and John J. Chin. “The Congo’s Fork in the Road: If the West Won’t Intervene, Russia Will.” Modern War Institute (at West Point), February 26, 2025.
John J. Chin. “How Tragedy Sparked a Protest Movement.” Journal of Democracy, February 6, 2025.
John J. Chin and Ellie Kim. “Promoting Poland’s democratic U-Turn.” The Loop, February 4, 2025.
John J. Chin. “Why Slovakia is Rising Up in Protest.” Journal of Democracy, January 30, 2025.
John J. Chin and Noel Overby. “Moldova versus Russian sharp power.” The Loop, January 22, 2025.
John J. Chin and Anastasia Kim. “Georgia’s Second Rose Revolution.” The Loop, January 9, 2025.
John J. Chin, Mirren Hibbert, and Staten Rector. “Restoring Democracy: Lessons from Bolivia since the 2019 Coupvolution.” The SAIS Review of International Affairs, December 18, 2024.
John J. Chin, Mirren Hibbert, and Staten Rector. “The legacy of Romania’s 1989 revolution.” The Loop, December 18, 2024.
John J. Chin, Haleigh Bartos, and Sydney Laite. “Assad’s Downfall in Syria: Who Wins and Who Loses?” Modern War Institute (at West Point), December 10, 2024.
John J. Chin. “Why Ghana’s Election Matters Across Africa.” Journal of Democracy, December 9, 2024.
John J. Chin and Joseph Wright. “What is a self-coup? South Korea president's attempt ended in failure – a notable exception in a growing global trend.” The Conversation, December 5, 2024.
John J. Chin, Haleigh Bartos, and Aleksaundra Handrinos. “What Burkina Faso’s Tragic History Teaches Us.” Journal of Democracy, October 31, 2024.
Haleigh Bartos and John J. Chin. “Three Reasons to Tread Lightly in Sudan.” The National Interest, September 4, 2024.
John J. Chin and Joseph Wright. “Can Bolivia Ever Escape the Coup Trap?” Journal of Democracy, June 28, 2024.
Haleigh Bartos, John J. Chin, and Tyler Ashner. “Haiti: A Best-Case Scenario.” War on the Rocks, April 30, 2024.
Haleigh Bartos and John J. Chin. “What Israel can learn from U.S. intelligence failures.” The National Interest, December 31, 2023.
John J. Chin and Haleigh Bartos. “How new reports reveal Israeli intelligence underestimated Hamas and other key weaknesses.” The Conversation, December 7, 2023.
Haleigh Bartos and John J. Chin. "What went wrong? Three hypotheses on Israel's massive intelligence failure." Modern War Institute (at West Point), October 31, 2023.
John J. Chin and Haleigh Bartos. “Biden’s Africa Policy Trilemma.” Duck of Minerva, October 12, 2023.
John J. Chin. “Coup Politics in the COVID-19 Era.” The Brown Journal of World Affairs 28, 2 (2022): 161-174.
John J. Chin. "A ‘good coup’ in Africa? Mali’s Latest Military Coup in Perspective." CIRP Journal, October 5, 2020. See the accompanying appendix of historical narratives of Colpus coup events in Mali here.
John J. Chin. "When are coups fake news?" Political Violence at a Glance, June 16, 2020.
John J. Chin, Joseph G. Wright, and David B. Carter. "Could a Coup D'etat Happen in the United States in 2020?" Political Violence at a Glance, June 2, 2020. See our appendix for historical narratives and our coding of the cases mentioned in that piece.
John J. Chin. "Five myths about coups." The Washington Post (Outlook section), May 8, 2020.
John J. Chin. “Hong Kong’s Escalating Protests: Three Questions.” Georgetown Journal of International Affairs (online), December 9, 2019.
John J. Chin, David B. Carter, and Joseph G. Wright. "No, the Trump impeachment inquiry is not a coup." The Washington Post (The Monkey Cage blog) . October 15, 2019. See the accompanying appendix of historical narratives of Colpus coup events in the United States here.
John J. Chin. "Promoting Democracy: A Blueprint for the Next Administration." PolicyMatters 5,2 (2008): 33-39. PDF.
John J. Chin. "Coping with Chaos: The National and International Security Aspects of Global Climate Change." Journal of International Policy Solutions Vol. 9 (2008): 15-26. PDF.