1 / 11

Militaries in South American Politics

Militaries in South American Politics. Military Mission. Old Mission: To save the patria New Mission: War against drugs. Why?. Creation myth They are more than part of the nation, they are its creators Societal mobility Need for strong government in the face of “continuing danger”

yair
Télécharger la présentation

Militaries in South American Politics

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Militaries in South American Politics

  2. Military Mission • Old Mission: • To save the patria • New Mission: • War against drugs

  3. Why? • Creation myth • They are more than part of the nation, they are its creators • Societal mobility • Need for strong government in the face of “continuing danger” • Professional status • Only the military equipped to save la patria from enemies

  4. Military in Politics explanations • Professionalism • German military • Contact with other military (USA) • Military response domestically driven • Pride in Public service • No glory • Education of enlisted • Shifts type of political interest only • Class based values • Military values supersede civilian

  5. How Much? • 1900-2000 • 167 successful coups • 1.6 per year • 8.8 per country • Uneven distribution: • Bolivia – 15 • Haiti – 14 • Costa Rica – 2 • Uruguay – 1

  6. Change over time? • Decline from 1930s to 2000 • Coups persisted but incidence declined • US government support changes • Eisenhower to Nixon, supportive • Ford to present, less supportive

  7. Four Dimensions of Military Regimes • Power structure based on personalism or collegiality • Military institution assuming and making political decisions with political institutional frameworks • Nature of the ideological orientation • Civilian support

  8. Regime variation on the four dimensions • Historic evolution from personalistic regimes without additional political roles for the military (not in other governmental roles). • Contemporary era saw shift to institutionalized approach – long term commitment with ideological focus. • Populist/inclusionary (reformist – Peron, Velasco)) • Excusionary authoritarianism (Upper-middle class alliance - Brazil 1964-85; Argentina 1976-83; Chile 1973-89)

  9. Cold War Impact • Intensified military tendencies • Focused efforts to combat subversion • Two compelling outcomes: • La patria “saved” from subversives • Human rights violations

  10. Post-Cold War, Amnesty? • Contestation – military policy, mission, size of budget • Prerogatives – internal military affairs, promotion, strategy, deployment • Civilians and military negotiate and compromise on each • Goal to establish civilian control over the military • Curtailing of budgets • Protection of military from post cold-war prosecution • Chile versus Argentina

  11. The Future • Domestic political context in South American countries is overall moderate • Left weak, right moderating, international pressure • Militaries accomplished their missions • Saved the patria from subversive attacks • Timing good – 1990s a difficult time to govern • Economic disarray, allow civilian responsibility • Junior officers less interested in politics • Impacts of senior officers were negative • Transition to war against drugs • Provides a mission, gains support domestic and international

More Related