scholarly journals Dancing with the Junta Again

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 51-56
Author(s):  
A. A. (Myanmar Researcher) ◽  
Liv S. Gaborit

Since the military coup on 1 February, more than 800 people, including children have been killed and more than 6,000 people have been arrested. The death toll and number of incarcerated women is sharply increasing during the crack down on protesters by security forces; yet, little is known about the specific challenges and opportunities encountered by women activists while imprisoned. Through analysis of semi-structured interviews with five women who have been detained in connection with the military coup, this report sheds light on the torture, sexual harassment and poor prison conditions that they face.

1980 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 41-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malcolm Coad

We publish below a list of writers and journalists abducted by the security forces and numbered among the ‘disappeared’ in Argentina since 24 March 1976, the date of the military coup that installed General Jorge Rafael Videla in power. Two eye-witness accounts illustrate the way in which such abductions usually take place. Finally, Robert Cox, editor-in-exile of the daily newspaper Buenos Aires Herald, describes how independent-minded journalists and the families of los desaparecidos ( ‘the disappeared’) have been affected. The material is introduced by Index on Censorship's researcher on Latin America, Malcolm Coad.


Author(s):  
Ozan O. Varol

This chapter defines the key terms used throughout the book: military, military coup, and popular revolution. The military, also known as the armed forces, is the state institution responsible for defending a nation’s borders. Importantly, the military is a separate institution from the state’s security forces. Although journalistic and historical accounts often conflate the military with the security forces, they serve distinct functions. Although most nations employ various measures to keep the military subservient to the civilian government, those measures are effective only if the military chooses to follow them. When the military disregards those measures and unleashes its coercive power against the sitting head of state, the result is a coup d’état. The definition of a coup ordinarily requires that its perpetrators come from a state institution such as the domestic military. Although many features of coups are also present in revolutions and popular movements, the definition of a military coup excludes these events because they are perpetrated by the masses, not members of the military.


Author(s):  
Matt Eisenbrandt ◽  
Benjamín Cuéllar

In 1980, a death squad linked to business tycoons and military commanders murdered Archbishop Oscar Romero for denouncing widespread repression and poverty in El Salvador. Romero was known as the “voice of the voiceless,” and his criticism of the oligarchs who dominated the economy and the Security Forces that tortured and murdered civilians made Romero a military target. Two decades after his assassination, the Center for Justice & Accountability (CJA) found one of the conspirators, Álvaro Saravia, living in California and launched a wide-ranging investigation into the death squad and its financiers. This book chronicles the life and death of the Catholic martyr, examining his actions and situating his years as archbishop in the broader context of the Salvadoran clergy’s embrace of Liberation Theology. It also analyzes, through excerpts from witness interviews and trial testimony, the mindset of the death squad members, their leader Roberto D’Aubuisson, and their wealthy backers, that propelled them to want Romero dead. The U.S. government played an important and contradictory role in developing the death squads and funding the military from which they sprang while also investigating their crimes and seeking to keep them in check. Within this complicated historical context, the book provides a first-hand account of the investigation and U.S. legal case that led to the only court verdict ever reached for Archbishop Romero’s murder.


2021 ◽  
Vol 115 (3) ◽  
pp. 558-567

On February 1, 2021, the military in Burma overthrew the democratically elected government, declared a one-year state of emergency, and installed Senior General Min Aung Hlaing as the head of government. Since the coup, the military has cracked down on protestors, killing over 800 people and detaining many more. Numerous countries and international organizations, including the United States and the United Nations, have condemned the coup and ensuing violence and called for the restoration of a democratic government. The United States and other countries have also imposed rigorous sanctions on the Burmese military, its officials and affiliated corporations, and social media companies have imposed content restrictions to prevent the spread of pro-military propaganda.


1978 ◽  
Vol 83 (3) ◽  
pp. 847
Author(s):  
Marvin Goldwert ◽  
John Samuel Fitch

2009 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Boubacar N'Diaye

ABSTRACTThe 3 August 2005 military coup was Mauritania's best opportunity to turn the page on decades of the deposed quasi-military regime's destructive politics. This article critically analyses relevant aspects of the transition that ensued in the context of the prevailing models of military withdrawal from politics in Africa. It also examines the challenges that Mauritania's short-lived Third Republic faced. It argues that the transition process did not escape the well-known African military junta leader's proclivity to manipulate transitions to fulfil suddenly awakened self-seeking political ambitions, in violation of solemn promises. While there was no old-fashioned ballot stuffing to decide electoral outcomes, Mauritania's junta leader and his lieutenants spared no effort to keep the military very much involved in politics, and to perpetuate a strong sense of entitlement to political power. Originally designed as an ingenious ‘delayed self-succession’ of sorts, in the end, another coup aborted Mauritania's democratisation process and threw its institutions in a tailspin. This only exacerbated the challenges that have saddled Mauritania's political system and society for decades – unhealthy civil-military relations, a dismal ‘human rights deficit’, terrorism, and a neo-patrimonial, disastrously mismanaged economy.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shani Kuna ◽  
Ronit Nadiv

PurposeThere has been ample research on the antecedents and consequences of workplace sexual harassment (WSH), a volatile issue in contemporary labor markets. There is, however, a lingering gap in the scholarly literature regarding the organizational practices involved in contending with WSH incidents following their occurrence. By exploring the practices and challenges of sexual harassment commissioners, a mandatory role performed by Israeli human resource practitioners, this study aims to unpack the embedded power dynamics, which construct how WSH is both deciphered and handled within organizations.Design/methodology/approachIn-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 45 sexual harassment commissioners (SHCs) in various business organizations in Israel to explore practitioners' conceptions of the challenges underlying their role. A grounded theory approach was utilized.FindingsThe findings demonstrate that, while SHCs seemingly are empowered by their exclusive authority to inquire into an intricate organizational matter, counter practices have emerged to undermine their authority and influence. This negatively affects their ability to reduce the prevalence of WSH. SHCs' attempts to approach WSH utilizing a power discourse are eroded by systematic barriers that channel them toward adoption of the default legal discourse. The latter frames WSH in terms of individual misconduct rather than as a phenomenon stemming from and expressive of organizational and societal gender inequalities.Research limitations/implicationsThis study does not represent the voices of WSH complainants or of top executives. The data focused on SHCs' descriptions of their role challenges.Practical implicationsImplications are suggested regarding the academic education and training of SHCs.Originality/valueThis study sheds light on covert and unspoken barriers to gender equality in the labor market.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document