Latin American Military Research Articles

The Latin American Military as a Socio-Political Force. Case Studies of Bolivia and Argentina. By Charles D. Corbett. (Coral Gables: University of Miami, Center for Advanced International Studies, 1972. Pp. 193. $3.95 paper; $4.95 hard cover.)

The Latin American Military as a Socio-Political Force. Case Studies of Bolivia and Argentina. By Charles D. Corbett. (Coral Gables: University of Miami, Center for Advanced International Studies, 1972. Pp. 193. 4.95 hard cover.) - Volume 32 Issue 1

Systemic Change and the Latin American Military Coup

Systemic Change and the Latin American Military Coup

The Latin American Military as a Socio-Political Force: Case Studies of Bolivia and Argentina

The Latin American Military as a Socio-Political Force: Case Studies of Bolivia and Argentina

The Expanding Institutional Concerns of the Latin American Military Establishments: A Review Article

Although Written a Decade Apart, these Quotations Reflect Recent Research focusing on the inter-relationship, or lack thereof, between the functional and genetic aspects of the Latin American militaries and their roles in the development process. Generally, the literature has attempted to interweave the military with its role as a subsystem in the larger political system, or it has centered upon the sociopolitical origins or institutional life style of the military establishment. Problematics confronting social scientists have concerned the rationale for military intervention in the political process, the motivational aspects and the divergent variables reflecting the possibilities for the future. The term “military intervention” as used by most social scientists gives a false impression, for it implies that the military operates from outside the political system, when in fact it is recognized as a principal subsystem in most Latin American nations. Throughout this article, therefore, the term ‘military intervention’ is intended to connote an active involvement in the political process by the military establishment functioning from within the overall political system.

The Latin American Military as a Socio-Political Force. Case Studies of a Bolivia and Argentina.

The Latin American Military as a Socio-Political Force. Case Studies of a Bolivia and Argentina.

The Latin American Military as a Socio-Political Force: Case Studies of Bolivia and Argentina.

The Latin American Military as a Socio-Political Force: Case Studies of Bolivia and Argentina.

The Latin American Military as a Socio-Political Force: Case Studies of Bolivia and Argentina

The Latin American Military as a Socio-Political Force: Case Studies of Bolivia and Argentina

United States Government Figures on Latin American Military Expenditures

As all good social scientists know, to analyze a problem properly one needs hard data, the harder the better. The United States government thinks so too, and is a prolific producer and consumer of statistics. If one wishes to do research on the military expenditures of the Latin American countries, for example, one has available not one but at least four sets of statistics complied by or for the federal government.At this point, however, difficulties emerge: these sets of statistics not only are not identical, but often differ so drastically that they lead to diametrically opposed conclusions.

Military Institutional Development and Sociopolitical Change: The Bolivian Case

The Latin American military is a complex institution in a complex society. It probably has always been, but in the past the dynamics acting upon the change versus order equation have allowed new structural relationships to be worked out over extended periods of time, relatively free from ideological passions and exogenous influences. That time has passed. Probably in no other region of the world are military establishments undergoing the degree of institutional selfexamination and mission redefinition as are the armies of Latin America today. They have neither the development-oriented self-confidence of the armies of the “new” nations, nor the threat-orientedWeltanschauungof the military in the established countries. Previously acceptable roles—as moderators in the political process or guarantors of their own image of the country's traditions—are under examination not only in the society at large but in the heart of the military institutions.

An Approach to the Study of the Latin American Military

Political scientists today are deeply engaged in the search for better ways to study the phenomena within their purview and for more insightful characterizations of political processes. Examination of the politically active military in developing countries has not escaped the trend. Yet this remains a segment of the discipline where impressionism and conjecture still are much in vogue. Indeed, the state of the art of analysis of the military role in less-developed areas is discouraging to some (Nordlinger, 1970). Even without taking a glum view, however, there is ample room to hold that more precise and structured studies of the politicomilitary phenomenon are much needed. The approach to the study of the Latin American military suggested here, which has possible applications to other geographic sectors of the underdeveloped world, is not intended to substitute for, but rather to complement forms of analysis that customarily have been followed.

The Latin American Military Establishment: Some Thoughts on the Origins of its Socio-Political Role and an Illustrative Bibliographical Essay

Historians from the United States have studied the Latin American military using two principal approaches: in broad, topical studies dealing with the socio-political role of the military, i.e. armies, from colonial times to the present and in monographic works dealing thematically with the political role of the military in a specific country during a specific time. Neither approach boasts a defintive work. Certainly not the former, for the role of the Latin American military is simply too big to be dealt with between the covers of a single volume; nor the latter, because of the necessary exclusivism inherent in dealing with one nation-one period. A third approach, the multinational treatment of the military in Latin America during a fixed period exists, but to date few such works are in print.

Supplying the Latin American Military

Supplying the Latin American Military

The Latin American Military: Predatory Reactionaries or Modernizing Patriots?

Until quite recently, the study of Latin American politics existed in a relatively primitive stage. A crude empiricism, occupied with the straightforward description of events or formal institutions, was relieved only by occasional global generalization of an impressionistic character about the informal characteristics of politics. However, substantial advances have begun to be made in the last few years in the direction of more systematic elaboration of theory to account for the distinctive characteristics of politics in the area, and we have begun to see the confrontation with each other and with the data themselves of rival theoretical explanations. Needless to say, this mutual confrontation of rival interpretations is a healthy sign for the deepening of our understanding of Latin American politics.

An Annotated Bibliography of Latin American Military Journals

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Changing Concepts of the Role of the Military in Latin America

During the past decade, traditional views about the role of the Latin-American military have been challenged or substantially revised. Traditional opinion holds that the armed forces perform no really useful functions and that their repeated interventions in politics and their demands on national budgets have thwarted and continue to thwart political, social, and economic development in most Latin-American nations. Therefore, they should be abolished or at least sharply reduced in size and placed under strict civilian control. Newer interpretations and prescriptions, while basically antimilitarist, hold that militarism has been and continues to be an expression of, rather than a basic cause of, political instability in Latin America, that in most instances the abolition of the military or their reduction to civilian control is impracticable under existing circumstances, that the military performs a number of useful national services, particularly in the field of civic action, and that the expansion of such activities should be encouraged. Both traditional and revisionist views, however, are based on inadequate data and are generally expressed in continental-wide generalizations which often do not apply to specific situations. Careful studies of individual countries are needed as bases for a truly comparative evaluation of the role of the military in Latin America.

The Nonmilitary Use of the Latin American Military: A More Realistic Approach to Arms Control and Economic Development

The Nonmilitary use of the Latin American Military: A More Realistic Approach to Arms Control and Economic Development Edward B. Glick Edward B. Glick Washington Arms Control Office, The Bendix Corporation Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Background, Volume 8, Issue 3, November 1964, Pages 161–173, https://doi.org/10.2307/3013619 Published: 01 November 1964

The Military: A Revolutionary Force

An examination of the history of Latin America reveals that in all but a few of the twenty countries, the activi ties of the armed forces have long influenced national policy. The military have frequently dominated politics either directly or by assuming an Olympian role as arbiter among the civilian contestants. In economic and foreign affairs, also, the voice of the military has been strong. Indeed, so active have the armed forces in Latin America been in nonmilitary activities that their military functions of defending against outside ag gression and of preserving internal order have, oftener than not, become of secondary importance. The Latin-American military, first, led a wave of revolutions which emphasized social and economic reforms. An overlapping wave of counter- revolutions, also led by the military, has drawn Latin-American governments away from such reforms. Cuba is the only Latin- American country in which the military still supports social reform. The role of the military in Latin-American politics is crucial in United States hemispheric policy because of the choice it forces upon the United States between security and social reform.

Facets of Mexican Thought: José Vasconcelos (1871-….)

Modern Ibero-American thought is generally neither distinguished by originality nor by systematic integrity. The Mexican philosophers Antonio Caso and José Vasconcelos, both to-day well advanced in years, are two notable exceptions to this rule. Both are systematic thinkers as well as prolific writers, and Vasconcelos combines with a synthetic view of life and civilization a vigorous originality of expression, two gifts which in their conjunction make it quite understandable that he is regarded by many of the intellectual leaders of Latin America as one of the most representative exponents of Ibero-American ideas in general and of Mexican philosophic thought in particular. A comprehensive monograph, dealing with the life and work of José Vasconcelos is being published this autumn by Dr. Oswaldo Robles, Professor of Philosophy at the National University of Mexico and Academic Rector of the Latin-American Military University in Mexico City. The writings of Vasconcelos comprise more than twenty volumes of works on metaphysics, ethics, and aesthetics; a History of Philosophy; a History of Mexico; essays, biographies, and tragedies; and an extensive autobiography in four volumes. The author of this imposing oeuvre is at present Director of the National Library of Mexico and engaged in carrying through important reforms in that venerable institution.

Facets of Mexican Thought: José Vasconcelos (1871-….)

Modern Ibero-American thought is generally neither distinguished by originality nor by systematic integrity. The Mexican philosophers Antonio Caso and José Vasconcelos, both to-day well advanced in years, are two notable exceptions to this rule. Both are systematic thinkers as well as prolific writers, and Vasconcelos combines with a synthetic view of life and civilization a vigorous originality of expression, two gifts which in their conjunction make it quite understandable that he is regarded by many of the intellectual leaders of Latin America as one of the most representative exponents of Ibero-American ideas in general and of Mexican philosophic thought in particular. A comprehensive monograph, dealing with the life and work of José Vasconcelos is being published this autumn by Dr. Oswaldo Robles, Professor of Philosophy at the National University of Mexico and Academic Rector of the Latin-American Military University in Mexico City. The writings of Vasconcelos comprise more than twenty volumes of works on metaphysics, ethics, and aesthetics; a History of Philosophy; a History of Mexico; essays, biographies, and tragedies; and an extensive autobiography in four volumes. The author of this imposing oeuvre is at present Director of the National Library of Mexico and engaged in carrying through important reforms in that venerable institution.