Why this word is great
AUTOCOUP — [Noun] A coup d'état in which a nation's leader, despite having come to power through legal means, dissolves or renders powerless the national legislature and unlawfully assumes extraordinary powers. From auto- ("self") + coup ("sudden overthrow"), calque of Spanish autogolpe ("self-coup"). Unlike "coup d'état" (typically an overthrow by external forces) or "putsch" (a violent seizure by a small faction), an autocoup is the quiet strangulation of democracy by its own steward. It is the rasp of a pen signing an emergency decree, the hollow echo of a parliament chamber emptied by fiat, the slow seep of power from institutions into the hands of a single figure—a betrayal not with a bang, but with bureaucratic precision.