No Farewell to Arms? Military Disengagement from Politics in Africa and Latin America

239 Pages·1987·23.852 MB·English

by  Claude E. Welch

NOF AREWETLOLA RMS?
MiliDtiasreyn gagfermoPemon lti tics
inA fraincdLa a tAimne rica
CLAUDEE.W ELCHJ,R .
NO FAREWELL
TO ARMS?
NEW DIRECTIONS IN
COMPARATIVE AND INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
Series Editors Peter Merkl and Haruhiro Fukui
No Farewell to Arms? Military Disengagement from Politics in Africa and
Latin America, Claude E. Welch, Jr.
Comparing New Democracies: Transition and Consolidation in Mediterranean
Europe and the Southern Con£, edited by Enrique A. Baloyra
Comparing Pluralist Democracies: Strains on Legitimacy, edited by Mattei
Dogan
ABOUT THE BOOK AND AUTHOR
In many contemporary nations, particularly in Africa, Asia, and Latin
America, the armed forces play a major role in governing. Historical,
economic, and sociological factors have contributed to the political prom·
inence of the mtlitary in developing countries. Nevertheless, in the 1980s
several states in Latin America restored civtlian rule following extended
periods of mtlitary government. By contrast, in the same period numerous
African countries fatled to reestablish civtlian governments.
What lessons can be gleaned from a comparison of redemocratization
in Latin American and African nations? More generally, what factors
contribute to the successful disengagement of the mtlitary from politics?
Are democratic governments largely the product of fortuitous historical
circumstances, economic growth, and social homogeneity? This book seeks
to answer these questions through detatled analysis of six countries. Dr.
Welch compares civil-mtlitary relations in three West African states-Cote·
d'Ivoire, Ghana, and Nigeria-with civU-mUitary relations in three countries
of Andean Latin America-Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru. The prospects for
successful disengagement seem less dim in Latin America than in Africa
despite the serious economic problems facing both regions. South of the
Sahara, ethnic fragmentation poses a fundamental threat to state and
governmental stabtlity, whtle in Latin America class contrasts are less
threatening.
Claude E. Welch, Jr., professor of political science at the State University
of New York at Buffalo, is the author of many books, including Anatomy
of Rebellion, and co-author of Human Rights and Development in Africa.

NO FAREWELL
TO ARMS?
Military Disengagement
from Politics
in Africa and Latin America
CLAUDE E. WELCH, JR.
I~ ~~o~~~;n~~~up
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 1987 by Westview Press, Inc.
Published 2018 by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an inf orma business
Copyright© 1987 Taylor & Francis
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any
form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
Notice:
Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used
only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Welch, Claude Emerson.
No farewell to arms?
(New directions in comparative and international
politics)
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Civil-military relations-Africa-Case studies.
2. Military government-Africa-Case studies. 3. Civil-
military relations-Latin America-Case studies.
I. Title. II. Series.
JQ1873.5.C58W44 1987 322'.5'0926 86-32535
ISBN 13: 978-0-367-01390-5 (hbk)
CONTENTS
List of Tables and Figures ........................................ ix
Acknowledgm.ents ................................................ xi
1 HOW ARMED FORCES BECOME POLITICALLY
ENGAGED: CML-MILITARY RELATIONS .................. 1
Notes ..................................................... 8
2 INVOLVEMENT AND DISENGAGEMENT .................. 9
Notes .................................................... 26
3 THE REGIONAL CONTEXTS ............................ 30
Notes .................................................... 40
4 BOLIVIA: THE CONSEQUENCES OF PARTIAL
REVOLUTION ........................................... 44
Bolivian Civtl·Military Relations Before the Revolution . . . . . . . . . 46
The Failure to Consolidate Revolutionary Recivilianization. . . . . . 52
Economic Factors in Bolivian CivU-Military Relations . . . . . . . . . . 64
Notes .................................................... 68
5 GHANA: THE ROOTS OF ENDEMIC PRAETORIANISM ... 72
The "Non-Political" Heritage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Personal Power and Military Political Involvement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Recivilianization: The 1969 and 1979 Versions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Praetorianism and Problems of Disengagement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Notes ..................................... ~ .............. 94
viii CONTENTS
6 NIGERIA: THE POLITICS OF MILITARY CORRECTION. .. 98
Prelude to 1966 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
The Road to Recivilianization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
A Continuing Need for Correction? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Notes ................................................... 121
7 PERU: THE LIMITS OF THE "NEW
PROFESSIONALISM" .................................... 126
The Heritage of Civil-Military Relations ..................... 128
Professionalism and the 1962 and 1968 Coups d'Etat. . . . . . . . . . 133
From "Plan Inca" to "Plan Tupac Amaru" ................... 138
Notes ................................................... 149
8 COLOMBIA: POLITICAL PARTIES AND
DISENGAGEMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
The Historical Context: Limited Militarism,
Widespread Violence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
La Violencia and the Military Assumption of Power . . . . . . . . . . 157
The Ouster of Rojas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
The Rojas Interlude and Its Political Impact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Notes ................................................... 169
9 COTE-D'NOIRE: PERSONAL RULE AND
CMLIAN CONTROL ................................... 172
The Establishment of Personal and Party Control. ............ 174
The Political and Military Economy of Dependence. . . . . . . . . . . 179
After Houphouet, What? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Notes ................................................... 189
10 DISENGAGEMENT AND PATHS OF CHANGE. . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Notes ................................................... 204
Selected Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Index ........................................................ 219
TABLES AND FIGURES
Tables
4.1 Post-1964 changes in Bolivian leadership ..................... 59
6.1 Key indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
8.1 Military expenditures in Colombia, 1950-1983 ............... 166
Figures
2.1 Spectrum of military involvement in politics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
ix