Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T17:40:56.822Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Crafting Civilian Control in Emerging Democracies: Argentina and Venezuela

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Harold A. Trinkunas
Harold A. Trinkunas*
Affiliation:
Naval Postgraduate School
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Democratic transitions create an opportunity for elected officials to maximize their leverage over the armed forces and create institutions that permanently shift power away from the military. This article develops a theoretical argument about how civilian control- is established. Venezuela institutionalized weak civilian control in the wake of its 1958 democratic transition, allowing the regime to survive the 1992 coup attempts. Argentina moved close to strong civilian control by 1995, although such control is exercised through questionable institutional channels.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs , Volume 42 , Issue 3 , Autumn 2000 , pp. 77 - 109
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 2000

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Acuña, Carlos H. 1994. Politics and Economics in the Argentina of the Nineties (or, Why the Future No Longer Is What It Used to Be). In Democracy, Markets, and Structural Reform in Latin America, ed. William, C. Smith, Acuña, , and Eduardo, Gamarra. New Brunswick : Transaction. 31–73.Google Scholar
Acuña, Carlos, and Catalina, Smulovitz. 1995. Militares en la transición argentina: del gobierno a la subordinación constitucional. In La nueva matriz política argentina, ed. Acuña., Buenos Aires: Ediciones Nueva Visión. 153–202.Google Scholar
Agüero, Felipe. 1995. Soldiers, Civilians, and Democracy: Post-Franco Spain in Comparative Perspective. Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Alonso, Santiago. 1995. Former Lieutenant Colonel, Venezuelan army; supporter of Carapintada military rebels. Author interview. Buenos Aires, July 25.Google Scholar
Behrongaray, Antonio. 1995. Former Chairman, Senate National Defense Committee, Argentina. Author interview. Buenos Aires, June 20.Google Scholar
Belkin, Aaron. 1997. Domestic Survival and International Conflict: the Relationship between Coup d’Etat and War. Ph.D. diss., University of California, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Bottome, Roberto. 1999. Editor, Veneconomia. Author interview. Caracas, July 28.Google Scholar
Briceño, Linares, Antonio, General 1994. Former Minister of Defense, Venezuela. Author interview. Caracas, October 26.Google Scholar
Bueno deMesquita, Bruce, Randolph, M. Siverson, and Gary, Woller. 1992. War and the Fate of Regimes: a Comparative Analysis. American Political Science Review 86, 3: 638–46.Google Scholar
Burggraaff, Winfield. 1972. The Venezuelan Armed Forces in Politics, 1935–1959. Columbia : University of Missouri Press.Google Scholar
Caldera, Rafael. 1992. Former President of Venezuela. Author interview. Caracas, August 18.Google Scholar
Child, Jack. 1995. Argentina: Guns and Roses. Hemisphere 6, 3 (March): 28–33: http:lacc.fiu.eduhemispherevol6num3child.html.Google Scholar
Colton, Timothy J. 1979. Commissars, Commanders, and Civilian Authority: The Structure of Soviet Military Politics. Cambridge : Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Decalo, Samuel. 1976. Coups and Army Rule in Africa: Studies in Military Style. New Haven : Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Diamond, Larry. 1996. Is the Third Wave over Journal of Democracy 7, 3 (July): 20–37.Google Scholar
Druetta, Gustavo. 1990. Diputados y defensa: radiografía de un poder tenue. In Defensa y democracia, ed. Druetta, et al. Buenos Aires : Punto Sur. 196–243.Google Scholar
Economist . 2000. All Power to Chávez—Almost. 356, 8182 (August 5): 35–36.Google Scholar
Farcau, Bruce. 1996. The Transition to Democracy in Latin America: The Role of the Military. Westport : Praeger.Google Scholar
Feaver, Peter D. 1996. Delegation, Monitoring, and Civilian Control of the Military: Agency Theory and American Civil-Military Relations. Project on U.S. Post–Cold War Civil-Military Relations, Working Paper M. Olin Institute for Strategic Studies, Harvard University.Google Scholar
Ferreira Pinho, Juan A. 1995. Former Secretary of Defense, Argentina. Author interview. Buenos Aires, May 17.Google Scholar
Fitch, J. Samuel. 1998. The Armed Forces and Democracy in Latin America. Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Fontana, Andrés. 1987. Los militares en el poder, 1976–1983. Unpublished mss. Buenos Aires : CEDES.Google Scholar
Frazer, Jendayi E. 1994. Sustaining Civilian Control: Armed Counterweights in Regime Stability in Africa. Ph.D. diss., Stanford University.Google Scholar
Giacopini, Zárraga, José, 1992. Former Minister of Finance, Venezuela. Author interview. Caracas, August 20.Google Scholar
Haggard, Stephen, and Robert, Kaufmann. 1992. Economic Adjustment and the Prospects for Democracy. In Politics of Economic Adjustment: International Constraints, Distributive Conflicts, and the State, ed. Haggard, and Kaufmann, Princeton : Princeton University Press. 319–50.Google Scholar
Hartlyn, Jonathan. 1984. Military Governments and the Transition to Civilian Rule: the Colombian Experience of 1957–1958. Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs 26, 2 (Summer): 245–81.Google Scholar
Jaunarena, Horacio. 1995. National Deputy; former Minister of Defense, Argentina. Author interview. Buenos Aires, June 6.Google Scholar
Karl, Terry L. 1986. Petroleum and Political Pacts: The Transition to Democracy in Venezuela. In Transitions from Authoritarian Rule: Latin America, ed. Guillermo, O’Donnell, Philippe, C. Schmitter, and Laurence, Whitehead. Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press. 196–220.Google Scholar
Karl, Terry L. 1990. Dilemmas of Democratization in Latin America. Comparative Politics 23, 1 (October): 1–21.Google Scholar
Karl, Terry, and Philippe, C. Schmitter 1993. What Democracy Is … and Is Not. In The Global Resurgence of Democracy, ed. Larry, Diamond and Marc, Plattner. Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press. 39–52.Google Scholar
Kebschull, Harvey G. 1994. Operation “Just Missed”: Lessons from Failed Coup Attempts. Armed Forces and Society 20, 4 (Summer): 565–79.Google Scholar
Linz, Juan J. 1978. The Breakdown of Democratic Regimes: Crisis, Breakdown, and Reequilibration. Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Linz, Juan J., and Alfred, C. Stepan 1996. Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation: Southern Europe, South America, and Post-Communist Europe Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
López, Ernesto. 1994. Ni la ceniza, ni la gloria Buenos Aires : Universidad Nacional de Quilmes.Google Scholar
Loveman, Brian. 1999. For La Patria: Politics and the Armed Forces in Latin America. Wilmington : Scholarly Resources.Google Scholar
McCubbins, Matthew, and Thomas, Schwartz. 1984. Congressional Oversight Over-looked: Police Patrols versus Fire Alarms American Political Science Review 28, 1 1989. Rómulo Betancourt y la política militar. In Rómulo Betancourt: historia y contemporaneidad. Caracas : Editorial Fundación Rómulo Betancourt.. 407–26.Google Scholar
McCubbins, Matthew 1999. Manager, Hugo Chávez’s 1998 presidential election campaign. Author interview. Caracas, July 30.Google Scholar
Norden, Deborah L. 1996. Military Rebellion in Argentina: Between Coups and Consolidation. Lincoln : University of Nebraska Press.Google Scholar
O’Donnell, Guillermo, and Philippe, C. Schmitter 1986. Transitions from Authoritarian Rule: Tentative Conclusions About Uncertain Democracies. Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Pion-Berlin, David. 1992. Military Autonomy and Emerging Democracies in South America. Comparative Politics 25, 1 (October): 83–102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pion-Berlin, David. 1997. Through Corridors of Power: Institutions and Civil-Military Relations in Argentina. University Park : Penn State Press.Google Scholar
Schaposnik, Eduardo. 1985. Democratización de las fuerzas armadas venezolanas. Caracas : Editores ILDIS-Fundación Gonzalo Barrios.Google Scholar
Stepan, Alfred C. 1973. The Military in Politics: Changing Patterns in Brazil. Princeton : Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Stepan, Alfred C. 1988. Rethinking Military Politics: Brazil and the Southern Cone. Princeton : Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Taylor, Charles Lewis, and David, A. Jodice 1983. World Handbook of Political and Social Indicators. 3d ed. New Haven : Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Trinkunas, Harold A. 1999. Crafting Civilian Control of the Armed Forces in Emerging Democracies. Ph.D. diss., Stanford University.Google Scholar
Vaca, Eduardo, Senator. 1995. Former Chairman, Senate National Defense Committee, Argentina. Author interview. Buenos Aires, July 10.Google Scholar
Valenzuela, J. Samuel. 1992. Democratic Consolidation in Post-Transitional Settings: Notion, Process, and Facilitating Conditions. In Issues in Democratic Consolidation: The New South American Democracies in Comparative Perspective, ed. Scott, Mainwaring, Guillermo, O’Donnell, and Valenzuela, Notre Dame : University of Notre Dame Press. 57–104.Google Scholar
Velásquez, Rafael J. 1995. Former President of Venezuela; Former Chief of Staff for President Rómulo Betancourt. Author interview. Caracas, March 4.Google Scholar
Verbitsky, Horacio. 1987. Civiles y militares: memoria secreta de la transición Buenos Aires : Contrapunto.Google Scholar
Verbitsky, Horacio. 1995. Senior investigative reporter for Pagina/12 newspaper. Author interview. Buenos Aires, June 27.Google Scholar