A Difficult Political Question: When Is a Military Coup a Good (or Necessary) Thing?

The latest news from Egypt raises a very troubling political question:

Egypt army gives Mursi 48 hours to share power

The difficult question is this: what if a nation's people are so divided that they cannot, in fact, rule themselves in civil and peaceable order? What if the divergences of opinion is so vast that there can be no compromise stable enough to last? Are we witnessing the outer limits of democracy - the point at which elections and "freedom" don't work?

And if we are at that point, is a military takeover the only viable option? The US has spent decades condemning military coups (albeit selectively...) - is this one of the "good ones" that we should welcome rather than criticize?

Not knowing boo about Egypt, I can't answer any of these questions, of course. But the questions themselves intrigue me - despite our faith in "freedom" and "democracy", there may well be limits and circumstances where holding another election is not the answer.