In AP Comparative Government, regime change is the replacement of a political system's fundamental rules, institutions, and structures, happening either gradually or suddenly through elections, coups, or revolutions backed by a large portion of the population (PAU-1.D.3).
Regime change means the basic rules of the political game get rewritten. A regime is the set of fundamental rules and institutions that decide who holds power and how they can use it. When those rules and institutions are replaced, you have a regime change. The CED (PAU-1.D.3) says this can happen two ways: incrementally, with rules shifting piece by piece over time, or suddenly, through elections, coups, or revolutions in which a large portion of the population supports changing the political system.
Here's the key distinction the exam loves. Swapping out the people in power is NOT regime change. The CED (PAU-1.D.4) is explicit that governments, including political officeholders, change more frequently and easily than regimes. The UK gets a new prime minister and nothing fundamental changes; that's a change in government. The Soviet Union collapses and Russia adopts a new constitution in 1993; that's regime change. New players, same rules = government change. New rules entirely = regime change.
Regime change lives in Topic 1.6 (Change in Power and Authority) in Unit 1 and supports learning objective AP Comp Gov 1.6.A, explaining sources of power and authority in political systems. It's one of the foundational distinctions the whole course is built on, because every one of the six course countries (China, Iran, Mexico, Nigeria, Russia, UK) has experienced regime change or serious pressure toward it. Iran's 1979 revolution, Russia's 1991-1993 transition, Mexico's slow democratization ending PRI dominance in 2000, and Nigeria's swings between military and civilian rule are all regime-change stories. If you can't separate regime change from a routine change in government, you'll misread questions across all five units. The concept also connects to PAU-1.D.2, since whether a regime is democratic or authoritarian shapes how much power it needs to use to keep sovereignty, and that shapes how vulnerable it is to being replaced.
Keep studying AP® Comparative Government Unit 1
Coups (Unit 1)
A coup is one of the three CED-listed mechanisms of regime change, alongside elections and revolutions. The twist is that a coup doesn't always change the regime. Nigeria's military coups sometimes replaced one set of rulers with another under similar authoritarian rules, while other coups rewrote the system entirely.
Authoritarian Takeover (Unit 1)
Regime change isn't always a move toward democracy. When an authoritarian movement dismantles democratic institutions, that's regime change running in reverse. The direction of change matters as much as the fact of change.
Russian Federation (Unit 1, applied throughout the course)
Russia is the course's go-to regime change case. The 1991 Soviet collapse and the 1993 constitution replaced the fundamental rules of the system, which is regime change, while later shifts between Putin and Medvedev as president were changes in government under the same rules.
Scottish Independence (Unit 1)
The 2014 Scottish independence referendum shows the incremental, electoral path. Devolution gradually shifted rules and institutions within the UK, and a successful independence vote would have replaced the fundamental structure of the British state without a single shot fired.
This concept shows up most often in questions that test whether you can tell a regime change from a change in government. MCQ stems give you a scenario (a new prime minister takes office, a military junta suspends the constitution) and ask you to classify it. Released short-answer questions have used the term directly, including SAQs from 2017 and 2021, typically asking you to define regime change, identify a mechanism of it (election, coup, or revolution), or apply it to a course country. To earn points, you need to do two things: name the mechanism and explain that the fundamental rules and institutions were replaced, not just the officeholders. A response that says "a new leader took power" without addressing the rules of the system won't cut it.
A change in government swaps the people in power while the rules stay the same, like the UK replacing one prime minister with another. Regime change replaces the rules themselves, like Iran going from monarchy to theocracy in 1979. The CED (PAU-1.D.4) stresses that governments change more frequently and easily than regimes. Quick test: if the constitution and core institutions survive the transition, it's a government change, not a regime change.
Regime change is the replacement of a political system's fundamental rules and institutions, not just a swap of the people in office.
The CED lists three mechanisms of regime change: elections, coups, and revolutions, and requires that a large portion of the population supports the change.
Regime change can happen incrementally over time or suddenly all at once.
Governments and officeholders change far more frequently and easily than regimes do (PAU-1.D.4).
Regime change can move in either direction, toward democracy (Mexico in 2000) or toward authoritarianism (an authoritarian takeover).
Every AP Comp Gov course country offers a regime change example, with Iran 1979 and Russia 1991 being the most commonly tested.
Regime change is the replacement of a political system's fundamental rules, institutions, and structures, either gradually or suddenly through elections, coups, or revolutions supported by a large portion of the population (PAU-1.D.3). It's tested in Topic 1.6 of Unit 1.
No. A new officeholder under the same rules is a change in government, not a regime change. The CED (PAU-1.D.4) emphasizes that governments change far more easily and frequently than regimes, which only change when the fundamental rules and institutions are replaced.
A coup is a mechanism that can cause regime change, but the two aren't the same thing. If a coup replaces one ruler with another under similar rules, the regime survives; only when the coup replaces the fundamental rules and institutions does it count as regime change.
No. Regime change is about replacing the rules, in either direction. Iran's 1979 revolution replaced a monarchy with a theocracy, and an authoritarian takeover that dismantles democratic institutions is regime change too.
Iran's 1979 revolution replaced the Shah's monarchy with an Islamic theocracy, Russia's 1991 Soviet collapse led to the 1993 constitution, Mexico's 2000 election ended decades of PRI dominance, and Nigeria moved between military and civilian rule before its 1999 democratic transition.
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