The concept of regime change has a venerable history. The assassination of Julius Caesar by some of his close associates in 44 BC is a famous episode in the long history of this practice. Essentially, violent regime change is attempted when a group becomes disaffected with the status quo and views further negotiations as fruitless. In this context, the overthrow of English rule by the American colonists can be viewed as an example of regime change. It is evident, therefore, that regime change may encompass a broad spectrum of activities, from targeted assassination of individuals to large-scale conflict between armies.

At the heart of regime change are often political differences between competing ideologies. (In the case of Julius Caesar it was the idea of dictatorship or republic.) This is one reason why regime change is as popular today as it was two thousand years ago: There still exist major ideological conflicts between various groups (e.g. Islamic Republic vs. Secular Republic). However, in some cases, regime change is simply a contest between competing factions for spoils with no deep ideological differences at stake. In some third world countries violent regime change has become the norm. In the democratic West, violent regime change has largely given way to more subtle methods. Here, the (electoral) ballot has generally replaced the bullet as the preferred means of effecting regime change.

During the Cold-War, the two major ideological and military blocs ...