Rethinking Military Politics

By Alfred Stepan

Book Overview

The last four years have seen a remarkable resurgence of democracy in the Southern Cone of the Americas. Military regimes have been replaced in Argentina (1983), Uruguay (1985), and Brazil (1985). Despite great interest in these new democracies, the role of the military in the process of transition has been under-theorized and under-researched. Alfred Stepan, one of the best-known analysts of the military in politics, examines some of the reasons for this neglect and takes a new look at themes raised in his earlier work on the state, the breakdown of democracy, and the military. The reader of this book will gain a fresh understanding of new democracies and democratic movements throughout the world and their attempts to understand and control the military. An earlier version of this book has been a controversial best seller in Brazil.

To examine the Brazilian case, the author uses a variety of new archival material and interviews, with comparative data from Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, and Spain. Brazilian military leaders had consolidated their hold on governmental power by strengthening the military-crafted intelligence services, but they eventually found these same intelligence systems to be a formidable threat. Professor Stepan explains how redemocratization occurred as the military reached into the civil sector for allies in its struggle against the growing influence of the intelligence community. He also explores dissension within the military and the continuing conflicts between the military and the civilian government.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0691022747
• ISBN13: 9780691022741
• Release Date: March 1988
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.0" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Different Approach to military politics in SA

Quite a good book. Most writers who examined the subject in the 80s (i.e. Guillermo O'Donnell) focused purely on macroeconomic factors that led to coups, and on examining the strategies of agro-export elites versus ISI industrialists that led to political gridlock and thus the coup d'etat. Curiously, few of them deeply examined the military, which is obviously a major component of a military coup.Stepan begins to address this defect in the literature, and places the Brazilian military in its historical context in a way often underplayed or ignored by others. Particularly useful is his formulation of the "moderator model" as explaining the inclination of the Brazilian military to intervene in politics, and the tendency by all sectors of society to view this as legitimate.This lays a foundation for explaining not only right wing coups, but left wing coups such as Portugal. Absolutely necessary for the student of civil-military relations.