Democratization, social crisis and the impact of military domestic roles in Latin America
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Authors
Pion-Berlin, David
Trinkunas, Harold
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Date of Issue
2005
Date
Summer 2005
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Abstract
Civil-military relations theorists have long warned against the participation of armed forces in domestic missions in democratic societies. They argue that such domestic roles bolster the military politically and eventually lead to the
overthrow of democratic governments. Yet for two decades now, democratic
governments have enlisted the help of their militaries domestically without risk
to the regime. Civilian leaders often provide the military with internal roles to compensate/or the inability of the state to provide the public and private goods demanded by citizens, particularly in times of internal economic or social crisis.
Even in the midst of crisis. democratic governments can withstand military involvement in a range of domestic projects, from food distribution to policing to provision of health services. This article argues that military political
intervention that accompanies participation in internal missions is only one
possible outcome of moments of severe conflict induced by crisis, and will occur
only when weak democracies with low levels of civilian control are victims of such crises. We examine this relationship in a comparison of two Latin American cases: Argentina and Venezuela.
Type
Article
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National Security Affairs
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Citation
Journal of Political and Military Sociology; Summer 2005; Vol. 33, No. 1, pp. 5-26
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This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.