Good coup, bad coup

IS THERE such a thing as a “good coup”? For decades the sight of armed men arriving at the gates of an African presidential palace spelled disaster. But recent coups in Burundi and Burkina Faso have, if not upended, then at least complicated attitudes to coups.

In Burundi, a group of generals declared the president, Pierre Nkurunziza, dismissed while he was out of the country on May 13th. They acted in support, as far as is known, of groups protesting against an attempt by the president to ignore constitutional term limits and stand again in elections next month. Loyalist forces regained control after two days and the president returned.