Democratic Consolidation and Military Professionalism: Argentina in the 1980s

1990 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 151-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah L. Norden

The 1980s Witnessed a series of halting, tenuous but, nonetheless, widely—hailed transitions from military regimes to constitutional democracies throughout South America. Yet, despite the initial optimism, the political newcomers faced formidable tasks. Not only had memories of democratic rule and practices grown dim in the years of disuse, but, with few exceptions, new governments found themselves threatened by a deteriorating economy with bleak prospects for the future. Equally — perhaps even more — threatening was the fact that though the military regimes may have relinquished their position, they had not necessarily relinquished their power, which raised the possibility that their civilian successors might not be able to stay in office long enough to confront their multifarious problems.In Argentina, the risk of a return to military rule was perhaps even greater than in some of its neighbors as the country had experienced a mosaic of alternating military and civilian governments ever since 1930.

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 55-78
Author(s):  
Federico Battera

This article explores the differences between two North African military regimes—Egypt and Algeria—which have been selected due to the continuity of military dominance of the political systems. Still, variations have marked their political development. In particular, the Algerian army’s approach to civilian institutions changed after a civilian president was chosen in 1999. This was not the case in Egypt after the demise of the Hosni Mubarak regime of 2011. Other important variations are to be found in the way power has been distributed among the military apparatuses themselves. In the case of Egypt, a principle of collegiality has been generally preserved within a body, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), which is absent in the case of Algeria, where conflicts between military opposed factions are more likely to arise in case of crisis. How differences generally impact the stability of military rule in these two cases is the main contribution of this paper.


1984 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 225-238
Author(s):  
Guillermo Makin

THE FOREIGN ADVENTURISM OF THE ARGENTINE MILITARY may have made a few minds more cautious about automatically welcoming the advent of any other future military regime. This point was made more than a decade ago by Stepan in his seminal work on the military in Brazil; what he said then could have been said of most military regimes anywhere:Whatever the future outcome, it is clear that the attraction of military rule – its presumed stability, unity, and ftvity of purpose – has been largely illusory. Even more importantly, the difficulties encountered by the highly professional army of Brazil, with its technocratic civilian allies, illustrate that there can be no apolitical solution to the problems of political development.


2020 ◽  
Vol V (I) ◽  
pp. 450-457
Author(s):  
Sughra Alam ◽  
Muhammad Nawaz Bhatti ◽  
Asia Saif Alvi

The Military s involvement in the political system of Pakistan began from the mid-1950s and continued verily as a guardian, a praetorian, or ruler on various occasions. Its disengagement, after the direct intervention, remained usually slow and gradual. Hence, it took a long time for disengagement and created a power-sharing model instead of transferring power to the civilian elite. The pattern of civilianization adopted by the Ayub Khan and Zia-ul-Haq was also adopted by the Musharraf regime with few changes. In his early days, though, General Pervaiz Musharraf demonstrated intention for economic revival, accountability, devolution of power, and democratic consolidation as his foremost goals and took some steps towards that direction but he abruptly reversed those steps when he sensed a threat to his dominating position in a self-created system. This paper is an attempt to critically analyze the process of civilianization during the period under consideration based on the theoretical framework and practical norms of the democratic system.


1986 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 149-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Mainwaring

On January 15,1985, Brazil elected a new president, 74 year-old Tancredo Neves, a moderate career politician who had been one of the important leaders of the opposition to the military regime which took power in 1964. Tancredo died before assuming office, but the elected Vice-president elect, José Sarney, took over the Executive Office on March 15,1985, bringing to an end 21 years of military rule. Arguably, the transition in Brazil is the most important of the recent transitions in South America (Argentina, Uruguay, Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia), given the country's size, population, and influence, and given the fact that Neves' election marked the demise of the most successful and long-lived bureaucratic-authoritarian regime in the region. As a result, the nature and implications of the Brazilian transition will have considerable significance for understanding the political reality of the region during the next several years.


2018 ◽  
Vol 164 (5) ◽  
pp. 358-359 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ojas Pujji ◽  
S L A Jeffery

Burn excision is the gold standard treatment for full thickness and some deep partial thickness burns. Early burn excision (24–96 hours) has been shown to improve patient outcomes. However, in the military setting, transporting the patient to a centre which can provide this procedure can be delayed. Especially as control of airspace in the future may be hampered due to the political landscape. For this reason, focus on how to achieve safer burn excision prior to repatriation should be addressed. This paper considers the barriers to early burn excision in the military setting and offers potential solutions for the future.


Ensemble ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-122
Author(s):  
Soham DasGupta ◽  

India played an active role in the liberation war of Bangladesh in 1971. The relation between the two countries remained cordial in the initial years but it soon soured with the coup d’etat of 1975. This also marked the rise of the anti-Indian elements in the Bangladeshi politics. This article makes a brief survey of anti- Indian elements that has remained a part and parcel of the political fabric of Bangladesh since 1971. It also looks into the ways in which the anti-India stance has been instrumental in garnering popular support to hold on to political power. The article begins with the background of the creation of Bangladesh and India’s active role in it which was followed by the friendship treaty signed between the two countries. Then it moves to the changing scenario following the coup d’état of 1975 which marked the visible changes within the polity of Bangladesh. The nature of nationalism underwent change moving from secularism to a religious character which found expression in the policies of the state. The military rule most often found it convenient to use the anti-Indian stance in order to please the fundamentalist elements of the country in its bid to garner popular support. The issues of water sharing, refugees and issues of fomenting possible insurgency with active support of India were highlighted. Even after the restoration of democracy, the anti-Indian factions remained active in opposing the government of Sheikh Hasina’s foreign policy with regard to India. Radical religious factions, who had throughout opposed the liberation war, still play a major role in fanning the anti-Indian sentiments in Bangladeshi politics.


Author(s):  
Mónica Ricketts

The final chapter discusses in parallel the political histories of Spain and Peru in the final years of imperial rule in South America. Peru did not experience a long national struggle and lacked large elites committed to independence. As in the old metropolis, a constant and violent struggle between men of letters and military officers dominated. After decades of military reform and war, army officers with experience in command and government felt entitled to rule. Old subjects and new citizens were also accustomed to seeing them lead. Men of letters, on the other hand, found limited opportunities to exercise their new authority despite their ambitions. Additionally, both in Spain and Peru, liberal men of letters failed to create a new institutional order in which the military would be subjected to civilian rule. It would take decades for both parts of the former Spanish monarchy to accomplish that goal and allow for peace.


Author(s):  
Nam Kyu Kim

Many scholars consider the military dictatorship a distinct authoritarian regime type, pointing to the singular patterns of domestic and international behaviors displayed by military regimes. Existing studies show that compared with civilian dictatorships, military dictatorships commit more human rights abuses, are more prone to civil war, and engage in more belligerent behaviors against other countries. Despite their coercive capacity, rulers of military dictatorships tend to have shorter tenures than rulers of non-military dictatorships. Additionally, military dictatorships more quickly and peacefully transition to democracy than their non-military counterparts and frequently negotiate their withdrawal from power. Given the distinct natures of military dictatorships, research on military dictatorships and coups has resurged since 2000. A great body of new research utilizing new theories, data, and methods has added to the existing scholarship on military rule and coups, which saw considerable growth in the 1970s. Most studies tend to focus on domestic issues and pay relatively little attention to the relationship between international factors and military rule. However, a growing body of studies investigates how international factors, such as economic globalization, international military assistance, reactions from the international community, and external threat environments, affect military rule. One particularly interesting research topics in this regard is the relationship between external territorial threats and military rule. Territorial issues are more salient to domestic societies than other issues, producing significant ramifications for domestic politics through militarization and state centralization. Militaries play a pivotal role in militarization and state centralization, both of which are by-products of external territorial threats. Thus, external territorial threats produce permissive structural conditions that not only prohibit democratization but also encourage military dictatorships to emerge and persist. Moreover, if territorial threats affect the presence of military dictatorships, they are more likely to affect collegial military rule, characterized by the rule of a military institution, rather than military strongman rule, characterized by the rule by a military personalist dictator. This is because territorial threats make the military more internally unified and cohesive, which helps the military rule as an institution. Existing studies provide a fair amount of empirical evidence consistent with this claim. External territorial threats are found to increase the likelihood of military regimes, particularly collegial military regimes, as well as the likelihood of military coups. The same is not true of non-territorial threats. This indicates that the type of external threat, rather than the mere presence of an external threat, matters.


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.


2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 413-436
Author(s):  
David Paulo Succi Junior

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo analisar o modo em que a bibliografia especializada busca explicar o constante emprego das Forças Armadas – instrumento de política externa – em missões de segurança pública na América do Sul. São identificados três níveis de explicação: internacional, regional e nacional. Defende-se que as análises podem ser agrupadas em duas lógicas explicativas – positivismo e o pós-positivismo –, as quais distinguem-se não apenas em termos teóricos, mas também, sob a ótica da teoria crítica, em relação às suas consequências políticas. Considera-se que a compreensão positivista do fenômeno em questão leva a uma subordinação da política à técnica, enquanto as análises pós-positivistas evidenciam o caráter político da escolha de envolver o instrumento militar em segurança pública. Palavras-chave: Forças Armadas; Segurança Pública; América do Sul.     Abstract: The current paper aims to evaluate the way in which specialized scholars seek to clarify the constant employment of South Americans Armed Forces – foreign policy instrument – in public security. Three explanatory levels are identified: international, regional and domestic. It is argued that analyses can be classified in two logics of explanation – positivism and post positivism – that are distinguished by both its theoretical specificity and its politics implications. We sustain that rationalist explanation submits politics to technique, while post positivism analyses emphasize the political nature of the decision to involve the military in public security. Key-Word: Armed Forces; Public Security; South America.     Recebido em: fevereiro/2017. Aprovado em: agosto/2017.


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