Episode 18: "Dance Party Vol. II; One Flew Over The Coup Coup's Nest"

Learned Hands: The Official Podcast of the Westerosi Bar Association

In this eighteenth episode of Learned Hands, the Official Podcast of the Westerosi Bar Association, Maester Merry & Clint from Laws of Ice and Fire ask: What role did Westeros’ legal system play in enabling the Greens' coup? What lessons can we learn from it?

Our analysis this week includes:

• Learned Hands returns to the Dance of the Dragons as we cover the aftermath of the Great Council of 101AC and the weirdly flaccid reign of Viserys I.
• We detail all of the various institutional, historical, and legal factors that facilitated the Greens' power grab.
• Lots of comparisons to real-life coups, including the failed attempt we all just lived through.
• Your hosts give you their fair and balanced opinions on Daemon Targaryen (who sucks).
• Clint giddily rants about Varys' Riddle AND Federalist 10 AND gets to make a tortured Seven Kingdoms/Federalism analogy for like three hours.
• Merry instructs you, the listener, on how to pull off a 100% successful coup!
• (lol jk)
• We ask the question of whether Westeros is actually fit for unified government.
• My god so much swearing.

Supplemental reading:

• Tayyab Mahmud, Jurisprudence of Successful Treason: Coup d'Etat & Common Law, 27 CORNELL INT'L L. J. 49 (1994), https://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/faculty/543
• Coup d'État: A Practical Handbook, Revised Edition: Luttwak, Edward N.: 9780674737266: Amazon.com: Books see also CHART: How to Execute a Coup (businessinsider.com)
• Clint's discussion about Varys' Riddle on NotACast for ACOK Tyrion II

Extensive editing by LittleWolfBird. Bumpers by Adriana, Lady Counselor of the Summer Isles and Archmaester of Pedantic Sophistry. Intro & Outro music courtesy Sid Luscious & The Pants. None of this should be construed as legal advice OBVIOUSLY.

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