The Role of the Military in the Formation of Revolutionary Committees 1967–68

1970 ◽  
Vol 44 ◽  
pp. 112-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jürgen Domes

When, at a moment of high tide in the Cultural Revolution, the first Revolutionary Committee was established in the Manchurian province of Heilungkiang on 31 January 1967, a new type of leadership organ appeared on the Chinese scene, indicating drastic changes in the regional power structure. At the beginning, these Revolutionary Committees were supposed to act as “temporary supreme organs of power” (Lin-shih tsui-kao ch'üan-li chi-kou), in which capacity they combined the local and regional leadership of party, administration, economy and mass organizations. During the four weeks preceding the formation of the Heilungkiang Committee, violent activity by newly formed Maoist organizations in a number of Chinese provinces and cities had been answered by wide-spread popular resistance, which was in many cases instigated by the local and regional Party leadership. Facing this resistance, Mao Tse-tung, in a personal mandate to his First Deputy and presumptive successor, Lin Piao, on 17 or 18 January 1967 ordered the military to intervene in the power-struggle between Maoists and anti-Maoists. The immediate attitudinal response of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), however, was not wholly convincing. Nevertheless, this call for the military to support the faltering Maoist counterattack against “revisionist” oppositional forces marks the beginning of a definite rise in military influence on the political process in Communist China.

1974 ◽  
Vol 57 ◽  
pp. 146-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
William W. Whitson

Although many readers would probably interpret William Parish's article in the previous issue of The China Quarterly (“Factions in Chinese Military Politics,” CQ, No. 56, pp. 667–699) as an attack on my 1969 assessment of the historic role of the Field Army in post-1950 Chinese politics, I am nevertheless sincerely grateful to him for keeping the dialogue about “loyalty systems” alive. Indeed, I am struck by the irony of our respective positions. He seems to argue that, while the Field Army loyalty system apparently (according to my statistics) had little demonstrable impact on elite assignments before the Cultural Revolution, the same system apparently (according to his statistics) helps clarify factional behaviour within the PLA during and after the Cultural Revolution. The irony of this is doubled since the statistical evidence which I now have available argues that “the old boy net” of the Field Armies actually had a diminishing impact on the domestic politics of China in the late 1960s. By then the Military Region as a geo-political unit had replaced the Field Army as a temporary focus of individual and collective PLA loyalties.


1971 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 543-559 ◽  
Author(s):  
'Ladipo Adamolekun

While independence in West Africa focused academic attention on political parties, the proliferation of military régimes in the late 1960s– by 1970, seven West African countries had experienced military rule — brought two other institutions into prominence: the military and civil bureaucracies. This article seeks to throw some light on the place of the civil bureaucracy in Senegal through a study of the role of bureaucrats in the country's political process.


1968 ◽  
Vol 34 ◽  
pp. 38-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ralph L. Powell

The events of the “Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution” have resulted in Lin Piao becoming the heir apparent of Mao Tse-tung while the armed forces have become the principal power factor in Communist China. However, much of the basis for the greatly expanded roles and power of Lin and the military establishment was actually laid in the period 1959–66. In considerable part, Lin Piao and his lieutenants gained power by establishing themselves as “the most loyal” supporters and potential heirs of the venerable, charismatic Mao Tsetung. In addition, for several years they have been carefully infiltrating into numerous key institutions of the state and Party and have played an important role in seeking to purge the opposition. Many of Marshal Lin's supporters and some of his opponents are professional party-soldiers, who have long been the Party's senior specialists in military affairs. Legally these men no longer have the title of marshal or general, for ranks were officially abolished in June 1965. However, since these powerful figures continue to dominate the massive armed forces, while extending their influence much further into the battered party and government structure, it will help to clarify a complex struggle if those who are primarily party-soldiers are still designated by their previous military ranks. For example, after the party reorganisation of August 1966 there were eight former marshals on the list of members of the new Politburo of the Party.


2010 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 174-198
Author(s):  
Jinwung Kim

AbstractThis study analyzes the role of the “military government police” in South Korean politics during American military occupation, 1946-48. It stresses that the Korean National Police (KNP), many of whose members had served in the police under the Japanese, was not a mere instrument of the United States Army Military Government in Korea (USAMGIK) but functioned as an active participant in the creation of a rightist regime in southern Korea. More specifically, the police were the undisputed “vanguard” of the rightist Syngman Rhee-Korean Democratic Party (KDP) coalition. The police force also functioned as the “big brother” of the rightist youth organizations which shared values and ideology with them. Finally, the police served as the “midwife” in the creation of the Rhee regime in the Republic of Korea. In sum, the KNP was an important political player actively taking part in the political process during U.S. military occupation.


Author(s):  
Natalia Rybalko ◽  

Introduction. The process of forming zemstvo militias in defense of Tsar V.I. Shuisky and the whole country in the Moscow state began in late 1608 – early 1609 at the height of the confrontation between the Moscow and Tushino political regimes. The article examines the role of the government of V.I. Shuisky in governing the state, in particular, Perm the Great, and the participation of this remote region in military affairs. Researchers have merely addressed this aspect and come to opposite judgments. Methods and materials. We have a large complex of zemstvo correspondence at our disposal, preserved in the archives of the Solikamsk district court. Many documents were published as early as the 19th century but their detailed analysis was not carried out. Clarification of the dating and reconstruction of information both about the documents that have come down to us and the documents only mentioned, the introduction of unpublished acts into circulation allows us to restore the true picture of events. A fund-by-fund study was carried out by the method of mutual correspondence of documents. Analysis. In the course of the research, it was revealed that the first of the initiative documents that reached the Great Perm about the support of Tsar V.I. Shuisky in military affairs were formal replies from Galich and Vologda. Perm clerks F.P. Akinfov and N. Romanov received them on December 15, 1608, and they were read by the whole world. Active gatherings of military men in Perm the Great began only after January 1, 1609, when a list with a sovereign letter was brought to the Galicians. At that time the territory of Perm the Great consisted of 3 counties: Cherdyn, Solikamsk, Kaigorod. By January 10, 1609, the first gathering ended and 20 military men of Soli Kamskaya left on the way to Moscow. In Kaigorodok they were robbed, carts and weapons were taken away, the headman and worldly people did not give new carts in the ship’s hut, as a result they could not continue their journey, and there was a delay. In February, together with 20 Kaigorod military men, they moved on. On March 1, 1609, 50 Cherdynians left Perm the Great. The war men of Perm the Great came to Vologda at the end of March 1609 and were assigned to further service in the militia. Results. The article shows that the complete blockade of Moscow in the fall of 1608 did not materialize. However, regular communication between Moscow and the cities of Pomorie was disrupted. For the period from January 1 to mid-April 1609 in Perm the Great on behalf of Tsar V.I. Shuisky received 5 decree letters from the Novgorod discharge order on the issue of collecting military men and sending them to Moscow to fight the Tushin people, and 3 executive orders from the Novgorod quarter order on the sovereign’s treasury and sending bread to Siberian cities for salaries to service people. These documents were direct orders of the supreme power and were perceived by the order people in Perm the Great as a guide to action. In addition to them, the zemstvo correspondence with the nearest cities made it possible to find out news about the military events taking place in the country. The clerk Fedor Petrovich Akinfov and the clerk Naum Romanov tried to carry out the orders of the tsar, but they did not always manage to do this as quickly as was expected of them. There is no reason to consider the resulting delay in the dispatch of the Perm military men as unwillingness of the orderly people appointed from Moscow for 2–3 years to participate in the support of Tsar V. Shuisky and the Zemstvo movement. The delay is more likely due to the lack of clear administrative management at the local level: if in Soli Kamskoy they quickly responded to the request and sent 20 military men, then in Kaigorodok they began to put up obstacles not only in the form of robbery, but also at the level of mundane self-government, not obeying the regional leadership.


1964 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 287-301
Author(s):  
Jordan M. Young

The positive and often decisive role of the military in the Brazilian political process has been demonstrated again by the overthrow of the João Goulart government on April 2, 1964. Chaos and confusion building up from the time President Goulart took power in August, 1961, finally culminated in his ouster by the Brazilian armed forces.The political history of modern Brazil centers on the military. The army toppled the monarchy in 1889 and in 1894 handed the administration of the country over to civilians who governed with minor challenges until 1930. The army managed the coup d'état of 1930 which brought Getúlio Vargas to power. It removed Vargas in 1945 and returned Brazil to a democratic political process. The army moved in November, 1955, to assure the assumption of office by President-elect Juscelino Kubitschek. The presidential elections of 1960 were guaranteed by the military even though a former Minister of War, General Enrique Lott, was decisively defeated by a civilian, Jánio Quadros.


Author(s):  
G. A. Vasilevich

In modern conditions, the paternalistic type of relations between the state and the person, between the state and society, is being replaced by a new type of relationship between these subjects. The growth of legal culture, legal consciousness of citizens is changing the previously established paradigm of relations: the number of people who recognize themselves as full-fledged subjects of the political process is growing. Sustainable socio-economic development of the state is directly dependent on the extent to which rule-making and law enforcement effectively affect social processes, to what extent the expectations of citizens from the activities of state authorities are justified.The development of information technologies significantly changes the role of citizens, public organizations in making government decisions, and has a significant impact on this process. State administration is carried out through the adoption of legislative acts and law enforcement. Information openness (transparency) of actions in these areas is an important factor in the legitimacy of public authorities.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 72-88
Author(s):  
I. E. Ibragimov

The article analyzes the role of the Egyptian military-political elite on the eve of the Revolution of 1952, when the military came to power, led by Gamal Abdel Nasser. The study of the history and activities of the organization «Free Officers» is hardly possible without considering the evolution of the national-patriotic and political movements in the Egyptian army. During the second quarter of the 20 th century the Egyptian society experienced fairly turbulent and eventful political process that influenced the further development of the country. At present the study of role of army in liberation movement in the Middle East is extremely urgent since military structures have become the base of the state system of many Arabic countries. The army has sufficiently influenced to the political development of the states. In connection with the recent transformations in the Middle East, that witnessed crises of political systems and statehood, the consideration of military elites, their coming to power and impact on a political system is important for the study of the general issues of the Middle East.The author considers the factors which influenced the evolutionary transformation of the Egyptian military before and after the World War II, as well as the social origins of the officer corps. Moreover, the object of the study includes the entire period of the national liberation movement of the Egyptian people, when almost all segments of Egyptian society were involved in this struggle. An important aspect of this trend is that, in the run-up to the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, the officers and the military elite became a more prepared and organized than other groups and was able to quickly and almost bloodlessly take power into their own hands.The article notes that it is impossible to solve urgent social problems and overcome economic backwardness without centralized strong leadership. While forming the Egyptian statehood and the Kingdom of Egypt, there were three centers of power – Wafd party led by Saad Zaghloul, the king and his supporters, as well as Great Britain, which retained control over Egypt. Given the absence of one center of power in the country, as well as the weakness and dependence of the existing ones, opposition movements with different views on the development of Egypt were created. The society of «Muslim Brotherhood» was one of them, eventually discrediting itself during its further development. «Free Officers» were able to establish themselves as a secret society, which ideologically did not belong to any political camp. Coherence, hierarchy and army solidarity became effective advantages in their struggle for power.


2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 66-77
Author(s):  
Nadezhda G. Artemieva ◽  
Victor S. Sorokin

Purpose. The article is dedicated to the research of harvesting tools that were excavated on the territory of the Shaiginskoe site. For the first time, the full statistics of the material are given, its new classification has been developed, and the data reveal the role of agriculture in life in the military-agricultural settlements of the State of East Xia. The Jurchens’ walled towns dating back to the period of the Eastern Xia State are qualified as military and agricultural settlements. Fortification structures of the sites imply their military functions, whereas findings of agricultural equipment affirm respective activities of the citizens. The agricultural implements excavated on the site of Shaiginskoe include hand-held tools typically used by the Jurchen people for harvesting cereal crops or cutting grass for hay. The article covers a complete statistic of the archaeological findings, provides a new type of their classification and demonstrates the scientists’ efforts to determine the specific features of social relations in military and agricultural settlements. Results. A total of 113 items have been found in the Shayginskoe settlement, which can be attributed to tools for harvesting. According to morphological features, they can be divided into species A – sickles and species B – scythes. Having analyzed the unearthed material, the authors conclude that the tools had a cross-purpose and their functions were not clearly separated. The Jurchens’ sickle appeared to be similar to the sickle-scythe used by the Manchus. They correspond to each other in size, shape and functionality. The only difference lies in a manner of fastening the blade to the handle. Conclusion. Judging by the number of agricultural equipment found in almost one in three dwellings of The Shaiginskoe fortification, it can be concluded that many residents of the city, to varying degrees, engaged in agriculture, supplemented by fishing and hunting, providing themselves with food, however agriculture played an important role in the economy of medieval fortifications of Primorye, and formed the basis of agricultural activity of the Jurchen.


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