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Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Legit Coups Not So Popular

Despite the fact that various institutions in Honduras have blessed the removal of President Zelaya, the fait accompli is not going over too well outside of the country, and the degree of consensus inside may have been exaggerated.

Again, I am not an expert on Honduras, but we do seem to see more opposition to coups these days, as Obama and Chavez are on the same page, more or less. There is near unanimity among outsiders that militaries ought not remove Presidents. I am not sure how robust this consensus is, or whether the timing of these event, so shortly after the disputed Iranian election, matters a great deal.

On the other hand, while one wants to avoid having Presidents that are too powerful, having a one four-year term seems to be taking term limits too far. This limits the President's accountability. Would the President of Honduras be challenging the institutions (over something else) if he had really to think about re-election? I do not know, but it is something to think about.

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