CHANGING ROLES OF THE
MILITARY
ASSIGNMENTS
• Smith, Democracy, ch. 3
• Modern Latin America, ch. 13
PARENTHESIS: PRESIDENTIAL
APPROVAL RATINGS (2010)
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•
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Ricardo Martinelli (Panama)
Mauricio Funes (El Salvador)
Luis Inacio Lula da Silva (Brazil)
Michelle Bachelet (Chile)
91%
84
83
81
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•
•
•
Álvaro Uribe (Colombia)
Tabaré Vásquez (Uruguay)
Evo Morales (Bolivia)
Felipe Calderón (Mexico)
64
61
60
55
RATINGS (cont.)
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•
•
•
•
•
•
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Fernando Lugo (Paraguay)
Barack Obama (USA)
Álvaro Colom (Guatemala)
Oscar Arias (Costa Rica)
Rafael Correa (Ecuador)
Stephen Harper (Canada)
Alan García (Peru)
Daniel Ortega (Nicaragua)
Cristina F. de Kirchner (Argentina)
50%
48
46
44
42
32
29
25
19
OUTLINE
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Questions
Historical Perspective
Self-Assumed Roles
Missions and Coups
Types of Military Regimes
Approval Ratings
Reflections on Central America
Impacts of 9/11?
QUESTIONS
• What roles for the military in democratic (or
democratizing) settings?
• What level (or type) of political power?
• Why accept any reduction in political
influence?
• Issue: not necessarily coups, but civilianmilitary relations
ARMED FORCES OVER TIME
• Wars of independence (1810-1825)
• One element in triangle of power—church,
economic elite, and military
• Path to upward mobility and political influence
• Duty: maintenance of internal order
• Impact of professionalization?
• Saber-rattling against neighboring countries,
but without real war (especially in 20th
century)
Military Folklore: Forging Fatherlands
Patterns of Participation
Incidence of Coups
Missions and Regimes
Wars against Subversion
The Democrats’ Dilemma: To Amnesty or Not?
Argentina
Chile
Figure 3-1. Incidence of Military Coups, 1900-2000
1900-09
1910-19
1920-29
1930-39
1940-49
1950-59
1960-69
1970-79
1980-89
1990-2000
0
5
10
Number of Coups
15
20
25
Military Regimes: Key Factors
1. Power structure: personalistic or collegial?
2. Institutional role of military in decision-making
3. Ideological orientation
4. Social base of civilian support
Types of Authoritarian Regime
________________Power Structure___________________
Personalist
Institutionalized
Leadership
____________
Military
Civilian
Traditional Caudillo or
“Man on Horseback”
Collective Junta or
Bureaucratic-Authoritarian
Regime
Technocratic State,
Delegative Semi-Democracy,
or Sultanistic Despotism
One-Party State or
Corporatist Regime
Prominent Military Regimes in Latin America
Reformist/Inclusionary:
Argentina
Ecuador
Peru
1946-55 [judgment call here]
1963-66, 1972-78
1968-80
Reactionary/Exclusionary:
Argentina
Brazil
Chile
Guatemala
Uruguay
1966-73, 1976-83
1964-85
1973-1989
1963-85
1973-84
Modes of Interaction: The Armed Forces and
Democracy
Military control: political subordination of nominally civilian
governments to effective military control
Military tutelage: participation of armed forces in general policy
processes and military oversight of civilian authorities
Conditional military subordination: abstention by the armed forces
from overt intervention in political questions, while reserving the
“right” to intervene in the name of national interests and security
Civilian control: subordination of armed forces in political and
policy terms to civilian authorities, usually including a civilian
minister of defense
Patterns of Civil-Military Relations, ca. 2000
• Military Control (N=0)
– None (maybe Guatemala)
• Military Tutelage (N=4)
– Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Venezuela
• Conditional Military Subordination (N=9)
– Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Nicaragua,
Paraguay, Peru
• Civilian Control (N=6)
– Argentina, Costa Rica, Haiti, Mexico, Panama, Uruguay
Figure 11-7. Levels of Trust in Institutions
National Congress
Political Parties
President
Church
1996
Armed Forces
2000
Judiciary
Police
Television
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Percentage expressing "a lot" or "some" trust
70
80
90
Levels of Trust in the Military, ca. 2000:
Ecuador
Venezuela
Brazil
Chile
Uruguay
Central America
60%
54
53
46
44
26
Note: “A lot” + “some”
IMPACTS OF 9/11?
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Involvement in war on drugs, and now…
Emphasis on internal security
Police functions
Focus on borders
From anti-subversion to anti-terrorism
Renewal of U.S. support?