Military Dictators Research Articles

Anti-Americanism in Pakistan

Pakistanis give three kinds of reasons for negative feelings about America. One involves U.S. policies toward Pakistan such as failure to come to Pakistan's aid during the Bangladesh crisis, using Pakistan for its own interests, and opposition to Pakistan's peaceful nuclear program. A second deals with American global policy, including support of Israel, opposition to Iran's present government, and use of force against small Third World nations. The third includes American involvement in Pakistan—for example, support of the military regime, obstructing a settlement of the Afghan issue, and responsibility for the decline in the value of the local currency. Most Pakistanis are uneasy about the relationship with America as opposed to being hostile. American support of Israel, India, and military dictators has undone a lot of the goodwill gained in other ways. Religious, ethnic, and cultural differences are rejected by most people as a basis of anti-American feelings. Speculation about interference in Pakistan's internal affairs and responsibility for former Prime Minister Bhutto's assassination have provided a basis for more ordinary people to develop feelings of anti-Americanism.

Warriors and Politicians in Modern Greece (review)

Reviews Constantine P. Danopoulos, Warriors and Politicians in Modern Greece. Chapel Hill, N.C.: Documentary Publications. 1984. Pp. χ + 225. $24.95. Greece's military dictatorship, which strapped the nation from April 1967 until it fell more than seven years later in July 1974, stimulated a massive outpouring of literature. Ranging from emotional commentaries to serious political analyses, these publications sought to satisfy the curiosity of the world community and to provide arguments for or against the regime (far more of the latter). It is indeed ironic, then, that despite the passing of time and its accompanying benefits for the serious research scholar, the number of academic studies on the colonels in the dictatorship's aftermath is relatively small. The reasons for this situation are not obvious. Perhaps scholars of contemporary Greece are now too preoccupied with Greece's entanglements with Turkey in the Aegean and on Cyprus and with Andreas Papandreou's socialist government to look backward a few years. With his book Constantine P. Danopoulos has tried to fill this scholarly void. Throughout his study Danopoulos applies generally accepted theories and models of recognized analysts such as Max Weber, Eric Nordlinger, Samuel Huntington, and W. W. Rostow. For all historical periods Danopoulos utilizes the concept of military professionalism as a method for analyzing the role of the Greek military, concluding that the development of Greece's armed forces paralleled the country's economic development. Thus, the large amounts of foreign economic and military aid after World War II not only brought Greece into the economic "takeoff stage" but also stimulated developing professionalism in the Greek armed forces. Greece's membership in NATO and the training of its officers abroad reinforced the already conservative, anti-communist orientation of the armed forces. The most extreme form of these positions found expressions in the conspiratorial mission of the officers professing allegiance to IDEA ("Holy Bond of Greek Officers"). Concern over cuts in the defense budget and over Centrist attempts to purge the armed forces 67 68 Reviews of IDEAists spurred these officers to intervene in politics. Danopoulos argues that the April 21, 1967 takeover of the military was perpetrated to protect its professional concerns. Subsequently, the decision to yield power in the immediate aftermath of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus can be seen as an effort on the military's part to safeguard its professional interests. To describe the junta's attempts to attain regime legitimacy, Danopoulos refers to Weber's three-fold approach: 1) charismatic leadership, 2) the appeal to traditional beliefs and practices, and 3) the rational-legal formula (i.e., based on the creation of constitutional structures). His investigation determines that the military dictators failed to legitimize their rule in all categories. They also blundered in their attempts to stimulate economic development and to bring about bureaucratic reorganization, as well as social, educational and political reform. After covering events since 1974, Danopoulos concludes that despite the military's retreat from politics, "the coals of interventionism have not yet cooled" (p. 166). The intentions of this book are good, but the results are mixed. The historian conversant in Greek affairs will be concerned by the sections on political developments in modern Greece and on the military 's involvement in politics from 1821 until World War II: they regrettably include a number of misstatements, oversimplifications and sweeping generalizations with flimsy substantiation. The political scientist, in turn, will question, among other points, the solidity of some of his conclusions for the post-1967 period. For example, some conclusions are based on interviews covering military rule with only 25 Greek civil servants. Danopoulos also administered a questionnaire to 34 Greek officers attending the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California and only 18 returned it. Nonetheless , despite this and other criticisms, Danopoulos' book is still the only recent study that tries to cover the important subject of Greek military interventionism in the historical and contemporary context. It therefore merits reading. S. Victor Papacosma Kent State University ...

The Militarization of the State in Latin America

Military dictatorships have been a characteristic feature of Latin America's political history since the time of the military caudillos (Bolivar, San Martin, O' Higgins, and others) who led the processes of national emancipation at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Since that epoch, military dictators have been one of the resources utilized by the dominant classes to impose order during times of crisis. After independence, military regimes constituted the means of finishing off the remnants of colonialism. Later these regimes were the means for repressing the plebeian tendencies within the emancipation movements that threatened the oligarchic society. Ultimately they were the means for imposing the formation of national states in the face of the separatist tendencies of the oligarchy's most backward fractions. With establishment of the new order, the caudillos gave way to more stable political systems that better represented the oligarchy as a whole (Halpenrn Donghi, 1969). In this century, as the primary export economies of many countries began to display symptoms of profound crisis and as the social struggles that this provoked became more violent, military regimes became an instrument for safeguarding established interests. It was no longer a matter of imposing a new order but of defending and maintaining the

The Myth of a Central American Dictators' League

A series of military dictators came to power in the four nothern republics of Central America during the Great Depression of the 1930s and perpetuated themselves in office through continuismo tactics until roughly the conclusion of the Second World War: General Jorge Ubico, the first and strongest of these caudillos, ruled Guatemala from 1931 to 1944; General Maximiliano Hernández Martínez governed El Salvador from December 1931 to 1944; General Tiburcio Carías Andino dominated Honduras from 1933 to 1946; and General Anastasio Somoza García controlled Nicaragua from 1936 to 1956.

Corporatism and Functionalism in Modern Chilean Politics

After the Chilean junta abolished party democracy in September 1973, it announced plans for a new constitution modeled on corporatist lines. Although, to date, few concrete expressions of these proposals have emerged, there is enough evidence since 1973 to suggest the lines along which the junta is thinking, and this indicates that not only international factors but also two sources of native historical inspiration are at work. First, and most important, Chile's military dictators were considering elevating an existing infrastructure of government-certified functional interest groups to replace the outlawed parties as intermediaries between the State and the individual. These gremios (private economic sctoral organizations, such as the National Society of Agriculture) had traditionally shaped public decisions both as representatives of their occupational fields and as permanent, often official, participants in state agencies concerned with their production sectors.

The Guatemalan Military and the Revolution of 1944

Revolution in Latin America has become a sufficiently frequent occurrence to be subject to stereotypes which can cause misinterpretation. All too often an uprising is discussed in general terms, without assiduous scrutiny of the particulars, resulting in unconscious assumptions based upon stereotyped notions regarding similar movements elsewhere. The result is that important factors can be overlooked, as general principles obscure the facts and the peculiarities of the local situation. The idea that social revolution involves a confrontation between civilian reformers and military dictators has become one of the standard bromides applied to such events.

The Guatemalan Military and the Revolution of 1944

Revolution in Latin America has become a sufficiently frequent occurrence to be subject to stereotypes which can cause misinterpretation. All too often an uprising is discussed in general terms, without assiduous scrutiny of the particulars, resulting in unconscious assumptions based upon stereotyped notions regarding similar movements elsewhere. The result is that important factors can be overlooked, as general principles obscure the facts and the peculiarities of the local situation. The idea that social revolution involves a confrontation between civilian reformers and military dictators has become one of the standard bromides applied to such events.

Theatre Audiences of Japan

In Japan it is easier to realize than in America a basic but neglected truth, namely, that the audience, and not the people on the stage, is the heart of the theatre. In America plays are, and have been generally, written to attract audiences, but not definite audiences: actually audiences in hodgepodge, whatever multitude can be induced to attend. In Japan, traditionally, the drama has been created for definite audiences.The Noh drama was originally produced for an audience of nobility and high dignity, both from the religious and from the civil standpoints. Originally Noh plays were acted exclusively in shrines to propitiate the deities of Shinto. On the other hand, they were enthusiastically supported by the shōguns (the Japanese military dictators who, though paying nominal court to the emperors, were the real rulers in Japan for several hundred years) and somewhat regulated by the tastes and preferences of the daimyōs (the hereditary feudal nobles).

Western Influences on the Meiji Restoration

Research Article| February 01 1948 Western Influences on the Meiji Restoration Nobutaka Ike Nobutaka Ike Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Pacific Historical Review (1948) 17 (1): 1–10. https://doi.org/10.2307/3634763 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Nobutaka Ike; Western Influences on the Meiji Restoration. Pacific Historical Review 1 February 1948; 17 (1): 1–10. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/3634763 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search nav search search input Search input auto suggest search filter All ContentPacific Historical Review Search This content is only available via PDF. Copyright 1948 The Pacific Coast Branch, American Historical Association Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.