The Political Role of the Indonesian Military: Past, Present and Future

1987 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salim Said
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Political Involvement ◽  
Future Change ◽  
Dominant Position ◽  
Political Role ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Military ◽  
The Revolution

AbstractThis paper attempts to briefly examine the political role of the Indonesian military from its inception to its dominant position in Indonesian politics today. It also attempts to discuss whether or not it would continue to play the same role in the future. The paper will be divided into three sections: the political role of the military during the revolution, the increased political involvement of the military, conflicting interpretations of the military role and the possibility of future change.

Lebanon: A Military in Politics in a Divided Society

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oren Barak
Keyword(s):  
Political System ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Role ◽  
Divided Society ◽  
The Military

Since Lebanon’s independence in the mid-1940s, its military—the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF)—has played a pivotal role in the country’s politics. The political role of the LAF in Lebanon might seem surprising since the Lebanese state did not militarize, and its political leaders have continuously managed to keep their military relatively weak and small. Indeed, in this respect Lebanon has been markedly different from its close neighbors (Syria and Israel), but also from several other Middle Eastern states (especially Egypt and Iraq), where the military, which was large and powerful, was continuously involved in politics. Additionally, both Lebanon and the LAF have persistently striven to distance themselves from regional conflicts since 1949, particularly in relation to the Palestinian issue, albeit not always successfully. Still, and despite these ostensibly unfavorable factors for the military’s involvement in politics in Lebanon, the LAF has played an important political role in the state since its independence. This role, which has been marked by elements of continuity and change over the years, included mediation and arbitration between rival political factions (in 1945–1958, 2008, 2011, and 2019); attempts to dominate the political system (in 1958–1970 and 1988–1990); intervention in the Lebanese civil war (in 1975–1976 and 1982–1984); attempts to regain its balancing role in politics (in 1979–1982 and 1984–1988); and facilitating the state’s postwar reconstruction (since 1991). The political role of the military in Lebanon can be explained by several factors. First, the weakness of Lebanon’s political system and its inability to resolve crises between its members. Second, Lebanon’s divided society and its members’ general distrust towards its civilian politicians. Third, the basic characteristics of Lebanon’s military, which, in most periods, enjoyed broad public support that cuts across the lines of community, region, and family, and found appeal among domestic and external audiences, which, in their turn, acquiesced to its political role in the state.

The Armed Forces in Latin America: Potential for Changes in Political and Social Functions

1972 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 375-398 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manfred Kossok
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Functions ◽  
Military Dictatorship ◽  
Political Role ◽  
Number Of Publications ◽  
The Military ◽  
Coups D'etat

At the beginning of this study of military dictatorship and the political role of the intellectuals in Latin America, Florestan Fernandes (1970: 1) makes the following statement: “The idea that Latin America is a region in which the coups d'état are a political routine has become a commonplace.” Without doubt, such an opinion is justified and also explains—at least to a certain extent—the wealth of “routine” verdicts on the function of the military in Latin America. A contradiction, however, seems evident at this point: while the number of publications on the political and social position of the armed forces is rapidly increasing (McAlister, 1966; Rouquié, 1969), there is an evident lack of comprehensive analyses that go beyond detailed description, and which explain in a reliable and sound manner the phenomenon of the cyclically increasing militarization of politics. It cannot be overlooked that research on the role of the military in Latin America is in a really critical situation which calls for a reexamination of the facts according to new criteria.

The Latin American Military Establishment: Some Thoughts on the Origins of its Socio-Political Role and an Illustrative Bibliographical Essay

1971 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-151
Author(s):  
Frederick M. Nunn
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Military Establishment ◽  
American Military ◽  
Political Role ◽  
The Military ◽  
Fixed Period ◽  
Specific Country

Historians from the United States have studied the Latin American military using two principal approaches: in broad, topical studies dealing with the socio-political role of the military, i.e. armies, from colonial times to the present and in monographic works dealing thematically with the political role of the military in a specific country during a specific time. Neither approach boasts a defintive work. Certainly not the former, for the role of the Latin American military is simply too big to be dealt with between the covers of a single volume; nor the latter, because of the necessary exclusivism inherent in dealing with one nation-one period. A third approach, the multinational treatment of the military in Latin America during a fixed period exists, but to date few such works are in print.

War and Seduction in Cybele’s Garden: Contextualizing theBallet des Polonais*

2012 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 809-863 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ewa Kociszewska
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Visual Context ◽  
Primary Role ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Military

AbstractThis article examines theBallet des Polonais(1573), a magnificent festival given by Catherine de Médicis on the occasion of the election of her son, Henri de Valois, the future Henri III of France, to the throne of Poland. It argues that the invention of spectacle, as described in the official Latin account by the poet and humanist Jean Dorat, is much more relevant to the political situation of the time than scholars have previously recognized. Placed in an immediate historical, literary, and visual context, the text of theBalletmakes allusions to contemporary topics, including the military glory of Henri de Valois and the imperial destiny of the French monarchy. The elaborate web of references to books 5 and 9 of theAeneidand to Catullus 64 displays the primary role of Catherine de Médicis, who is lauded for overcoming her maternal sorrow at Henri’s departure for the sake of promoting the Valois Empire.

The Political Role of the Dominican Armed Forces: A Note on the 1963 Overthrow of Juan Bosch and on the 1965 Dominican “Revolution”

1973 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 355-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abraham F. Lowenthal
Keyword(s):  
Armed Forces ◽  
The Political ◽  
Military Officers ◽  
Military Establishment ◽  
Political Role ◽  
History Of ◽  
Professional Institution ◽  
Civilian Authority ◽  
The Military

Several years ago, in a general essay on Dominican politics, I wrote a few pages about the political role of the Dominican Armed Forces. I argued that “the history of the past few years in the Dominican Republic may best be viewed as a constant struggle among changing alliances, not in terms of confrontation between civilian authority and the military establishment” (Lowenthal, 1969: 40). I suggested that “far from being a professional institution dedicated to certain principles that impel its occasional entry into politics, the Dominican Armed Forces have never had any significant function beyond politics, except for plunder” (Lowenthal, 1969: 40). Painting a picture of constant struggle within the Dominican Armed Forces, for power and a chance at the spoils, I played down the importance, for understanding the political role of Dominican military officers, of institutional and ideological considerations.

scholarly journals El exilio y la ocupación foránea las dirime el verso. Selección de poesía. Nota preliminar Verso que germina en el exilio: miradas al tiempo en la poesía de Bahia Mahmud Awah

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-170
Author(s):  
Bahia Mahmud Awah ◽  
◽  
Cossette Galindo ◽  
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Political Role ◽  
The Past ◽  
Temporal Aspects ◽  
The Future ◽  
History Of ◽  
Selection Of

This note introduces the selection of poems by the poet Bahia Mahmud Awah presented here. The intention is to raise the spatial aspects that the experience of exile imprints on the poet’s conception of the political role of poetry in other geographic latitudes, and also to note the temporal aspects of the history of the Saharawi people which motivate, in his poetry, an interpretation of the past, the present and the future.

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