The rule of force: militarism and the militarization of politics in the early Brazilian Republic (1889-1890)

Abstract

This article addresses the immediate aftermath of the November 15, 1889, republican coup d’état in Brazil. Taken into account the diversity of the states’ political landscapes, its main theme is the profound transformation in the country’s political life precipitated by the abrupt passage from a parliamentary monarchy, marked by the ascendancy of civilian institutions, to a military dictatorship. it will be shown that, given the fact that republicans were a fragmented minority in most of the country, the military had preeminence in the implementation of the regime. However, considering that the coup was itself an act of insubordination, that control over institutions created frictions, and that the role of arbiters contaminated the barracks with the period’s extreme polarization, the liabilities of the militarization of politics were soon manifest. They were, most notably, the deep unrest and factionalism in the armed forces, the continuous institutional degradation, and the rise of authoritarianism.