Criminal acted up to achieve a power change (4,5)
I believe the answer is:
coup detat
'achieve a power change' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'criminal acted up to' is the wordplay.
'criminal' indicates anagramming the letters.
'acted'+'up'+'to'='actedupto'
'actedupto' anagrammed gives 'COUP DETAT'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for coup detat that I've seen before include "Anti-government action" , "revolutionary action" , "Acted up to create sudden overthrow of government" , "Hostile takeover" , "Acted up to, involved in sudden overthrow of government" .)