1.6 - Change in Power and Authority
Power, Sovereignty, and Regime Type
Regimes maintain sovereignty, meaning the right to govern without outside interference, but how much power they actually need to use depends on whether they're democratic or authoritarian.
Democratic regimes need less coercive power because citizens consent to government authority, legitimacy comes from popular support, compliance is mostly voluntary, institutions resolve disputes peacefully, and power transfers happen through accepted rules. The UK maintains sovereignty through respected institutions and electoral legitimacy without needing heavy surveillance or repression.
Authoritarian regimes need more coercive power because their legitimacy is contested or weak, compliance often requires force or fear, opposition has to be suppressed, citizens may not consent to authority, and there are fewer channels for peaceful dissent. China relies on extensive surveillance, censorship, and repression to maintain Communist Party control, since it can't count on popular consent through elections.
Regime Change vs. Government Change
Regimes and governments change at different rates and through different processes.
How Regimes Change
Regime change means replacing the fundamental rules and institutions governing political power. It's deeper and more consequential than just swapping out leaders.
Incremental regime change happens gradually, through constitutional amendments, legal reforms, institutional restructuring, and the slow accumulation of changes in political practice. Mexico's shift from single-party dominance to multiparty democracy happened this way, through electoral reforms in the 1990s that gradually opened political space until the PRI finally lost power in 2000.
Sudden regime change happens fast, through:
- Elections, when voting fundamentally alters the political system's rules and the population supports systemic change
- Coups, when the military or elites seize power and impose new rules by force
- Revolutions, mass popular uprisings that overthrow the existing system, often involving violence and complete restructuring
Iran's 1979 Revolution is a textbook case of sudden regime change: mass protests overthrew the Shah's monarchy and replaced it with an Islamic Republic that had entirely different rules about who holds power and how it's exercised.
How Governments Change
Government change means replacing officeholders and leadership, not the underlying rules of the regime, and it happens much more often and more easily than regime change.
Peaceful government change usually happens through:
- Elections, where voters pick new leaders but the regime's rules stay the same
- Appointments, where leaders select new officials, reshuffle cabinets, or replace ministers
- Lines of succession, where pre-established rules determine who takes over when a leader dies or resigns
Nigeria's 2015 election, where President Goodluck Jonathan lost to Muhammadu Buhari, was the first time an incumbent president was defeated there. The government changed, new president, new cabinet, but the regime (the Fourth Republic's constitutional system) stayed intact. That peaceful handover was a real sign of democratic consolidation.
Two more course country examples show how lines of succession work. In the UK, prime ministers often change without a general election. The PM is whoever can command a majority in the House of Commons, which in practice means the leader of the largest party, so when that party picks a new leader, the monarch appoints the new leader as PM. In 2022 the Conservatives replaced Boris Johnson with Liz Truss and then Truss with Rishi Sunak this way. As of 2026, the prime minister is Andy Burnham: he won a seat in Parliament in the Makerfield by-election in June 2026, Keir Starmer announced his resignation days later under pressure from Labour MPs, Burnham was the only candidate for Labour leader, and King Charles III appointed him PM on July 20, 2026. Voters never went to the polls, and the regime's rules didn't change.
In Iran, the constitution sets the line of succession. When President Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash in May 2024, the first vice president took over until a new election (won by Masoud Pezeshkian) was held within 50 days. The Supreme Leader is chosen differently, by the Assembly of Experts, a body of 88 senior clerics elected by voters after the Guardian Council vets the candidates. When Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed in US and Israeli airstrikes on February 28, 2026, a temporary leadership council (the president, the head of the judiciary, and a senior cleric from the Guardian Council) ran the country, as the constitution requires, until the Assembly of Experts chose his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, in March 2026. As of 2026 he is Supreme Leader. The government changed, but the regime (the Islamic Republic) stayed the same.
Violent government change happens through:
- Revolutions, which can change just the government or the whole regime depending on whether they're aimed at removing leaders or restructuring the entire system
- Coups d'état, where the military or elites overthrow the current government, sometimes keeping the regime intact and sometimes installing an entirely new one
Iran experienced both violent government and regime change in 1979: the Shah's government was overthrown, and the regime itself changed from a secular monarchy to a religious theocracy under Ayatollah Khomeini and the clerics.
Nigeria has seen multiple violent government changes through military coups (two in 1966, then 1975, 1983, 1985, and 1993). The 1983 coup overthrew the civilian Second Republic and also changed the regime from democratic to authoritarian military rule. Some coups only swapped one military ruler for another, like Ibrahim Babangida's 1985 coup against Muhammadu Buhari: the government changed, but the military regime stayed. The 1999 return to civilian rule changed both the government and the regime again, but that change was peaceful: after Sani Abacha died in 1998, General Abdulsalami Abubakar organized elections and handed power to Olusegun Obasanjo. These violent shifts show how force-based government change tends to create instability, unlike peaceful electoral transitions where the regime's rules provide continuity even as leaders come and go.
Bottom line: regime change is fundamental, rare, and alters the rules of power. Government change is routine, frequent, and just replaces leaders within the existing rules. Democratic regimes build in peaceful ways to change governments, so violent transitions aren't necessary, while authoritarian regimes often lack that mechanism, which makes coups and revolutions more likely.