CHANGING ROLES OF THE
MILITARY
ASSIGNMENTS
 Smith, Democracy, ch. 3
 Modern Latin America, ch. 13
OUTLINE
 Questions
 Historical Perspective
 Self-Assumed Roles
 Missions and Coups
 Types of Military Regimes
 Approval Ratings
 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 civilian-military
relations
ARMED FORCES IN PERSPECTIVE
 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 TRANSITION
 Personalist regimes, especially “sultanistic despotism” =
armed revolution and/or assassination
 Personalist regimes if military = armed revolution or
military replacement
 Bureaucratic regimes = fissures within ruling elite,
negotiation with opposition
 One-party regimes = winning elections (as in Mexico)
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
 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
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?
 Involvement in war on drugs, and now…
 Emphasis on internal security and political stability
 Police functions
 Focus on borders
 From anti-subversion to anti-terrorism
 Renewal of U.S. support?
CHANGE OVER TIME
 Oligarchic Rule and Top-down Reform (1880s-1920s)



Military strongmen
“Oligarchic democracy”
Co-optative democracy
 Populism and Dictatorship (1930s-1970s)





Co-optative democracy
Populist alliances/corporatist states
Women and politics
A democratic surge [1940s-70s]
Bureaucratic-authoritarian regimes
CHANGE OVER TIME (cont.)
 The Revolutionary Path (1950s-1980s)


“plantation societies”
Cuba, Nicaragua—and others?
 A Renewal of Democracies (1980s-present)




“unsolvable problems”
pressure from below
ending of Cold War
absence of ideology
 Rise of the “new left”? (1998-present)



Politics of protest/use of ballot box
Chávez v. Lula
prospects?
THE CHILEAN PATH
 Two-step process
 Stunning election (1988 plebiscite)
 Negotiations:
 1980 Constitution
 Tenure for military commanders
 Formation of National Security Council
 Perpetuation of self-amnesty
 Nine members of Senate (senadores biónicos)
 10 percent of copper revenues to military budget