The Brazilian military after the Cold War: overcoming the identity crisis (original) (raw)
Related papers
Military intervention in brazil: pinnacle, disruption and decline
Revista de Estudos e Pesquisas Avançadas do Terceiro Setor
Brazil until the establishment of the Civil and Military Regime of March 31, 1964 coexisted with military coups, which ravaged the entire republican period and contributed to corrupt any democratic pretension of the nation. This article aims to examine the process that would have sought to withdraw the armed segment from political activity after that date, by means of an analysis of the course of political and strategic actions that led to a rupture with the previous paradigm and changes in civil and military relations and in the Brazilian democracy. In the theoretical and methodological framework, the argumentation, based on a hypothetical deductive approach, was supported by a dialectical path assumption, taking as a starting point the Moderator Model of Alfred Stepan, to which put an opposing configuration structure, so called Enframement Antimodel, which supposedly would result in a form of very close relationship with that proposed by Samuel Phillips Huntington, named Civilian ...
Armed forces and internal security: reflections on civil-military relations in brazil
Revista de Estudos e Pesquisas Avançadas do Terceiro Setor, 2019
This article aims to reflect about the possible implications of the use of the Armed Forces in internal security activities on civil-military relations in Brazil. From the Proclamation of the Republic, in 1989, this fraction occupied a prominent position in the national scenario, whose course, until 1964, was characterized by an interventionist function, imbued with messianic spirit and protagonism in the development of Brazilian institutions, configuring a model of intercurrence that had the characteristics of the civilian subjective control as formulated by Samuel P. Huntington in The Soldier and the State. However, on the basis of academic argumentation in recent research by which there was a process aimed at distancing the military from political participation, in its internal individual aspect and in collusion with political parties, radical organizations or social movements, it was admitted that, after 1985, there was a rupture with the previous trajectory, approaching the barracks of the civilian objective control, lineate in same work of that cited author, which, however, may be being hampered in its external institutional side, due to the significant increasing in the use of the armed segment in
Back to basics: assessing military involvement in politics in contemporary Brazil
Brasiliana: Journal for Brazilian Studies, 2021
As Brazil showed signs of progress in civil-military relations in the late nineties and early 2000s, research moved from civilian control to defense policy topics, resulting in the neglect of less obvious forms of military involvement in politics, many of which pre-date the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro. After critically reviewing existing frameworks for assessing progress in civilian control we propose returning to the field's primary concern with military intervention in politics by using three indicators-military presence in government; public commentary by military officers; and episodes of military contestation-and their implications regarding the armed forces, politicians, and society. Next, we examine these three indicators in the context of the presidencies of Dilma Rousseff and Michel Temer. We conclude that interactions between "soldiers, politicians, and civilians" in recent episodes of military involvement in politics reveal the full extent of the frailty of civil-military relations in Brazil.
Militarization of Politics in Brazil
The article provides analyses of the recent events in Brazil that culminated in a movement that I call " militarization of politics ". Changes in military jurisdiction, political speeches by members of the Armed Forces, a " federal interference " commanded by militaries in the State of Rio de Janeiro, the fulfillment of the traditional civilian offices in federal government (as the Ministry of Defense), parallel to the absence of criminal responsibility for crimes against humanity during the dictatorship of 1964-1985, paved the way for poor results in terms of public security and a growing peril for the Constitutional Democratic State designed by the Constitution of 1988.
THREATS TO BRAZILIAN DEMOCRACY: POLITIZATION OF THE ARMED FORCES AND THE RISKS TO THE DEMOCRATIC STATE (Atena Editora), 2023
This essay explores the influence of the Armed Forces on Brazilian politics and the risks that this politicization can entail for democracy. The context of recent presidential elections and the history of military politicization and the prospect of military intervention in the electoral process highlight challenges faced by the Brazilian democratic system. The country's political culture, with its history of strong politicization of the Armed Forces, often associated with actions that are harmful to democracy, increases the concern regarding the resurgence of the possibility of military intervention in elections. Given this scenario, the objective of this study is to analyze the risks of politicization of the Armed Forces for democracy and to investigate measures to ensure its depoliticization, aiming to maintain the impartiality and prestige that its professionalism deserves. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of understanding the relationship between the Armed Forces and politics in order to safeguard democratic integrity. It highlights the importance of analyzing the political influence in the Armed Forces before and after redemocratization, as part of an effort to sustain democratic stability in the country. In view of this, the measures necessary to avoid setbacks in democratic achievements are highlighted. Ultimately, the depoliticization of the Armed Forces emerges as a crucial factor for the maintenance and strengthening of Brazilian democracy.
The Defense Studies in Brazil: from its origins to the creation of the Ministry of Defense
Política Hoje, 2016
This paper aims to make a brief overview of the history and agenda of Defense Studies in Brazil, an interdisciplinary area that involves political science, international relations and other related disciplines. We will focus our efforts until 1999, when the Ministry of Defense was createdin the second presidential term of Fernando Henrique Cardoso (1999-2002). The Defense Studies have been an important area in Human Sciences - with the institutionalization of the field with the creation of the Brazilian Association of Defense Studies and the attempt to a better dialogue between researchers and the Ministry of Defense - given the historical importance of the military in Brazilian politics and the international projection that the country has pursued in recent decades. In this sense, we will approach our work highlighting the importance and the recent research agenda on civil-military relations in the country.
Militarisation by Popular Demand? Explaining the Politics of Internal Military Roles in Brazil
Bulletin of Latin American Research, 2021
Why are Latin American politicians drawing the armed forces into politics and public security? What consequences does this democratically controlled re-militarisation have for civil-military relations? With a case study of Brazil, this article introduces the conceptual tool of 'negative convergence': a widespread acceptance of increasing the military's internal roles among political leaders, military elites and society. Drawing upon public opinion surveys, the article analyses the 'demand' for internal military roles. A qualitative analysis of secondary literature and news reports then analyses the 'supply-side' of negative convergence: political leaders' willingness to increase the armed forces' internal roles and the military's reactions.
Os Regimes Militares no Brasil e na América do Sul – Historiografia e Perspectivas
Revista Eletrônica da ANPHLAC, 2015
O objetivo deste paper é abordar o estado da arte na historiografia dos regimes ditatoriais sul-americanos das décadas de 1960 a 1980, com ênfase especial sobre a produção brasileira. Nesse sentido, são abordadas as principais correntes e temáticas do campo, desde os estudos pioneiros de Guillermo O’Donnell, Alfred Stepan e Juan Linz até os esforços mais recentes, incentivados pelos aniversários dos golpes militares e pelos eventos e debates que as datas proporcionaram. A memória e a conceitualização dos regimes, seus elementos constituintes, suas vítimas, e os estudos sobre a natureza, as conexões e o legado de cada um deles, são questões perenes nos trabalhos historiográficos presentes neste mapeamento. Além disso, a questão presente da Comissão da Verdade brasileira em perspectiva comparada ganha destaque nas reflexões aqui propostas.
INTERVIEWING THE BRAZILIAN MILITARY: REFLECTIONS ON A RESEARCH EXPERIENCE1
My purpose is to present some reflections about my experience in interviewing Brazilian military officers. Despite the specificity of the Brazilian case, I trust that these observations may serve as a comparative reference for the study of military institutions in other contexts. Since 1987, I have conducted approximately 250 hours of recorded interviews with 80 people, including cadets (students at the Brazilian Army Officer Academy), officers on active duty during the authoritarian military regime (1964-1985) -including a long interview with expresident Ernesto Geisel -and military leaders of the "New Republic", the period that started after the military regime folded in 1985 and that goes on until this day. 3 First of all, it is important to stress that these interviews were made immediately after a period of 21 years during which the military were directly engaged in government. The legacy of this authoritarian experience, particularly in relation to the behavior of some sections of the Armed Forces in political repression, is one of the more sensitive areas of contemporary Brazilian historical memory. Although the military have been under civilian rule for the last 14 years, they