Authoritarian Rule in Latin America Essay Example for Free

Authoritarian Rule in Latin America EssayLatin American politics since independence have been characterized by instability, authoritarianism, and violence. In a three page essay please discuss the role of the military in creating such paradoxs using the chapter in the course reader authorise The Good Sailor. Also, discuss whether or not the Argentinean case is typical or unique to Latin America. Provide explanations and analysis from The Good Sailor, lecture, and the textbook. An A authorship leave use all told three. Use size 12 Times New Roman font.The paper must be typed (or word-processed) on standard size paper (8 ? y 11) and double spaced with appropriate margins. Use MLA format with parenthetical citations-i. e. (Rosenberg, 84). Violence in Latin America is a significant part because so much of it is semi governmental planned, deliberate, and carried out by organized groups of society. It is used to make a point. The above quote supports that the violence and mil itary is interrelated and it is used as tool by the military to instill fear and dominate volume of the Latin America. Ranked as the third most unstable region in the world in the post-war era, political instability has been a pervasive problem in Latin America.Whether it is a caudillo, a charismatic boss with an armed following, or a general leading a golpe de estado or an authoritarian institution, Latin America is conceived as an authoritarian region always ruled by every military or civilian leaders. Only three Latin American countries were consistently democratic over the thirty year blockage from 1935 to 1964 Costa Rica, Colombia, and Venezuela. During this time, thither were 56 changes of government by military coups in 20 Latin American nations. In sum, political instability is a persistent and pernicious problem in the region.The question arises how military insurrection remained instrument of ruling in Latin America. It might be because since the time of caudillos, viole nce when used as a method to rule has brought desired results and authority. So it has become a used and proven instrument in the rulers toolbox. Also, it might be realizable that the institutional inertia of the violent politics as inherited from predecessors success is deep rooted in the psychic of the rulers. Brazil was the beginning(a) of these Institutional dictatorships.When military rule began in 1964 after the overthrow of Joan Goulart, it was not a long project but hard liners in military demanded more than and more until soft liners came into action in 1974 to loosen up the political rein. This military regime was institutionalized and created two political parties to channel political use Skidmore, Thomas Pg 358-360. art object in cayenne pepper, you will see the example to an institutional regime changing into personalistic one(a) with emerging of a dictator Augustus Pinochet, who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1989.Pinochet staged a very bloody coup in which probably 2,000 people were killed in the coup and in the years immediately afterwards. Most Chileans support some sort of army intervention, in part ironically because of their democratic history. They felt, It cant happen here. Our military isnt like the other militaries. They meant that the Chilean military cannot be as brutal as Argentinean military was. Our military will come in and restore order and clean house for six months and then leave.seventeen years later, the military left after carrying on one of the most brutal and repressive regimes in Latin America and becoming a token of state terrorism. Argentina presents one of the most acute cases in the period after 1955. In this country during this period there occurred 12 military coups. While Colombias violence had its roots because of the lack of social order and the Governments inability to place rules on a most chaotic society, in Argentina, the junta that came in power in military created exactly the opposite situation. When t he military coup came into power in 1976 it suffocated Argentina with social order.It took over the educational institutions, changed the heart style of people even their appearance. Article The Good Sailor Pg. 13 Alfredo Astiz, a lieutenant general for the Navy who was active in it from 1970 to 1995. Article The Good Sailor Pg. 24 Astiz was in delegate Force 3. 2. 2 which killed more people during the Dirty War than any other group. The Dirty War lasted from 1976 until 1983 and involved people getting disappeared. The term disappeared describes those who vanished during this period and were probably killed by the military before being tortured in inhumanely ways.It is these trocities and the new and brutally creative ways to torture people that make the Argentinean military different from the other regimes in Latin America. The term Dirty War originates in the military junta itself, which claimed that a war, albeit with different methods was necessary to sustain social order and eradicate political subversives. Although the junta claimed its objective to be the eradication of guerrilla activity, the repression struck mostly the general population, and specifically all political opposition, trade unionists ( half(prenominal) of the victims), students, and other civilians.Many others were forced to go into exile, and many remain in exile today. When the Dirty War was a year and a half old, it had disappeared more than 6,500 Argentines. Article The Good Sailor Pg. 12. Even though the military knew in 1978 that 90% of the left was eradicated, they kept on fighting against imaginary subversives for 5 more years. Human businesss were not important to the Argentines. Despite contrary opinion from the military, the phrase The Good Sailor by Tina Rosenberg proves that excessive torture occurred. It is evident from testimonies in the article and the experience of Vilerinos. Article The Good Sailor Pg. 15, 16. He talked about a torture chamber with an electric sho ck machine, torturing instruments and sand bags to hit people so no marks would show up. The military General and even the low rank officers believed that they have godlike powers instilled in them and it is their duty to clear all the dirt from the society by killing people they see fit. They had no shame in executing horrendous tortures instead they took pride and enjoyed the process. As compared to Argentina, Mexico had one part rule (PRI ruled since 1929 to 2000) rather than military wars but still there was colossal bloodshed.It is not that only military intervention brings in political instability and violence as Mexico is a live example of both. However, after the study of the article The Good Sailor and reading the book Modern Latin America it seems to me that the extent of atrocities military regimes brought is incomparable to civil dictatorship. It is their hunger for power and vehemence to rule that make them feel they are god and have right to punish people. Here we are the only gods said by a torturer in a chamber after brutally torturing a 52 year old women.