Customer Reviews

The Armed Forces and Democracy in Latin America

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The details of this book are suberbly summarized in the previous review so I won't bother duplicating this effort. I do disagree with the previous reviewer's assessment of the book, which is at best very simplistic and at worst very weak. Indeed Fitch primarily relies on his careful examination of the armed forces in Argentina and Ecuador (where he has done most of his fieldwork) but he also synthesizes very well the growing case-study literature on the armed forces in Brazil, Honduras, Chile, Peru, Uruguay and Guatemala. This allows him to validly and reliably draw conclusions about the armed forces in all of Latin America. Few studies of Latin American militaries have analyzed such a wide range of countries. Studying the armed forces (a closed political institution) is no easy task and Fitch should be commended for the important insights that he offers in this book. To argue that he should have expanded the size of his sample is logical but given resource constraints (funds and time, especially) this is a very daunting task. Fitch's book is unique in the careful and systematic attention it pays to military attitudes. According to one scholar, "The [book's] focus on attitudes serves as a useful and refreshing complement to the predominant institutionalist orientation of current work on Latin American militaries." Fitch also makes a significant contribution to policy-makers in this book by discussing specific measures that civilian governments can implement to help democratize the military and normalize relations between civilians and military officials. In all, this book is a good read for students, scholars and policy-makers.

It is obvious to even the most casual observer that the military has played a pivotal role in the political development of Latin America, particularly in the last century. What is not obvious to the casual observer, however, are the causes of military involvement in the political scene, and the courses that should be taken by states that wish to effect a transition away from military-dominated governments. Fitch attempts to explain these items through a study of both historical data and first-hand interviews with military officers in Ecuador and Argentina. He conducts a very thorough study, but, as we shall see, falls short in his analyses in some regards. Fitch first examines the roots of military involvement in politics, starting with the pre-professional armies of the mid-nineteenth century. As the armies became more professionalized, an elite class was formed within Latin American society, one of Europhile military officers with deep allegiance for the patria, the fatherland, including not just national territory but the culture and values of the nation as well. This can be contrasted with a military with allegiance to a particular constitution or political system, as in the case of the United States. Coupled with the allegiance to patria is the general feeling of the public that the military was more trustworthy than a politician, and the guardian of the patria. These factors would become the justification for intervention when politicians were, in the eyes of the military, not performing their duties as they should. Fitch then examines the Ecuadorian and Argentine militaries through the use of detailed surveys of officers of both. He centers the discussion on the reasons for and factors affecting the military takeovers of the respective governments. Perceptions of internal and external threats, the roles of the military, opinions of the civilian leadership, and estimations of the relative success of the military governments are all important topics of his survey. He then presents arguments for change in the political systems of Latin America, and suggests strategies for transitions to democratic governance. Finally, he proposes a new kind of professionalism for the militaries that will protect democracy rather than subvert it. Fitch's work describing the Ecuadorian and Argentine militaries is thorough, well-written, and insightful. The problems with this work arise when he attempts to use these examples to describe all of Latin America. Specific mention of other Latin American countries is not made until the last fourth of the book. Fitch appears to be over-simplifying the problem when he attempts to apply the lessons of Ecuador and Argentina to the whole of Latin America. A broader base of officers could have been consulted in order to get a more significant sampling, or, perhaps more appropriately, the book should have been titled, "The Military in the Politics of Ecuador and Argentina."