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The Latin American Military: Predatory Reactionaries or Modernizing Patriots?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Martin C. Needler
Martin C. Needler*
Affiliation:
Division of Inter-American Affairs, The University of New Mexico
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Extract

Until quite recently, the study of Latin American politics existed in a relatively primitive stage. A crude empiricism, occupied with the straightforward description of events or formal institutions, was relieved only by occasional global generalization of an impressionistic character about the informal characteristics of politics. However, substantial advances have begun to be made in the last few years in the direction of more systematic elaboration of theory to account for the distinctive characteristics of politics in the area, and we have begun to see the confrontation with each other and with the data themselves of rival theoretical explanations. Needless to say, this mutual confrontation of rival interpretations is a healthy sign for the deepening of our understanding of Latin American politics.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Inter-American Studies , Volume 11 , Issue 2 , April 1969 , pp. 237 - 244
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 1969

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References

1 Lieuwen's views are to be found in his Arms and Politics in Latin America (New York: Praeger, 1961); Generals vs. Presidents: Neo-Militarism in Latin America (New York: Praeger, 1964); “Militarism and Politics in Latin America,” in Johnson, John J., ed., The Role of the Military in Underdeveloped Countries (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1962)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and “The Military: a Force for Continuity or Change,” in John TePaske & Fisher, Sydney N., ed., Explosive Forces in Latin America (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1964)Google Scholar.

2 For McAlister's views, see “Civil-Military Relations in Latin America,” Journal of Inter-American Studies, July, 1961; “The Military,” in John J. Johnson, ed., Continuity and Change in Latin America (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1964); “Changing Concepts of the Role of the Military in Latin America,” The Annals, July, 1965; and “Recent Research and Writings on the Role of the Military in Latin America,” Latin American Research Review, vol. II, no. 1, Fall, 1966.

3 See his The Military and Society in Latin America (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1964); and “The Military as a Politically Competing Group in a Transitional Society,” in his The Role of the Military in Underdeveloped Countries, cited above.

4 These programs are discussed in Barber, Willard F. and Ronning, C. Neale, Internal Security and Military Power: Counterinsurgency and Civic Action in Latin America (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1966)Google Scholar.

5 See Bosch, Juan, The Unfinished Experiment, Democracy in the Dominican Republic (New York: Praeger, 1965), p. xi Google Scholar; Needier, M. C., Anatomy of a Coup d'Etat: Ecuador, 1963 (Washington: Institute for the Comparative Studies of Political Systems, 1964), p. 15 Google Scholar; John J. Johnson, ed., The Role of the Military in Underdeveloped Countries, cited above, p. 124; A Report to the American Academic Community on the Present Argentine University Situation, special publication of the Latin American Studies Association, Austin, 1967, p. 17.

6 A Report to the American Academic Community on the Present Argentine University Situation, cited above, p. 17.

7 New York: Praeger, 1964.

8 Anatomy of a Coup d'Etat, cited above.

9 For example, David J. Finlay explained the overthrow of Nkrumah in Ghana thus: “Also, Nkrumah had decided to form a ‘people's militia’ as a supplement to his own ‘presidential guard.’ The existence of such a large private army would threaten the autonomy, the professionalism, the well-being, and indeed the very existence of Ghana's 10,000-man army. The army rose against the government to defend its own existence …”

“The Ghana Coup … One Year Later,” Trans-action, May, 1967, p. 18.

10 La Opinión (Los Angeles), April 1,1967.

11 The West Point Conference on Latin American Problems, 15-17 April 1964: Final Report, p. 70.

12 Martin C. Needier, “Political Development and Military Intervention in Latin America,” American Political Science Review, vol. LX, no. 3, September, 1966.