Civilian-Military Relations in Latin America
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Authors
Bruneau, Thomas C.
Goetze, Richard B.
Aerea, Fuerza
Subjects
September-October 2006
Advisors
Date of Issue
2006
Date
Publisher
Monterey, CA; Naval Postgraduate School
Language
Abstract
For some time now, there has been debate in academic circles about
just how much civilian politicians in Latin America need to know, and
do, to control their militaries. David Pion-Berlin, a highly regarded scholar
on Latin American civil-military relations, has argued that “civilians do not
have to worry about investing the necessary time to understanding defense,
strategy, tactics, preparation, budgeting, deployment, doctrine, or training.”
1 Pion-Berlin bases his argument on deductive logic and history, but
we believe the situation has changed significantly in the region. Therefore,
we respectfully disagree. In our opinion, civilians must know enough to be
able to ensure that the armed forces are doing what they are required to do,
not only in terms of submitting to civilian control, but also in successfully
fulfilling the current very wide spectrum of roles and missions assigned to
security forces in Latin America. Unlike Pion-Berlin, we believe that the
security threats facing Latin America are now so broad and so critical that
civilians have little choice but to engage with them and invest political
capital in responding to them.
Type
Article
Description
Article in English, also in Spanish as Civilian-Military Relations in Latin America; searchable in Calhoun.
Series/Report No
Department
National Security Affairs (NSA)
Organization
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
Sponsors
Funder
Format
Citation
Military Review, September - October 2006
Distribution Statement
Rights
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.