Military dictatorship

IMPORTANT:This page has used Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia in either a refactored, modified, abridged, expanded, built on or 'strait from' text content!

Overview[]

A military dictatorship is a form of government wherein the political power resides with the military and\or a military force exerts complete or substantial control over political authority. It is similar but not identical to a stratocracy, a state, like ancient Sparta, ruled directly by the military.

A military dictatorship may have political rather than military leaders where they are appointed and kept in place by the military.

How they occur[]

Normally, they result from a coups that toppled the government. Military dictatorships are prevalent in countries where the military has stronger cohesion than other social institutions.

If the declaration by which a military coup d'état is made official is called a pronunciamento (Portuguese\Spanish "pronunciamiento" is the root of 'proclamation'). This happens mostly in Central America.

Method of rule[]

A military dictatorship is different from civilian dictatorship for a number of reasons:

their motivations for seizing power
the institutions through which they organize their rule
thire appetite for war and civil wars
the ways in which they leave power.

The Latin America model is ruled by a junta (Portuguese/Spanish word for "conference" or "board"), such as a a committee composed of several officers, often coming from the military's most senior leadership. Most of these regimes were politically paranoid and regulatory undermined human rights.

In the Middle East and Africa, military governments are run by one senor figue and some time thire deputy to. They often develop a personality cult and ge rich looting the nation. Most of these regimes were politically paranoid and regulatory undermined human rights.

Motives[]

Often viewing itself as saving the nation from the corrupt or myopic civilian politicians, a military dictatorship justifies its position as "neutral" arbiters on the basis of their membership within the armed forces. For example, many juntas adopt titles such as "Committee of National Restoration", or "National Liberation Committee". Military leaders often rule as a junta, selecting one of themselves as a head.

Terminology[]

Occasionally military dictatorship is called khakistocracy. The term is a portmanteau word combining kakistocracy with khaki, the tan-green camouflage colour used in most modern army uniforms.

Examples []

The Brazilian military government was the authoritarian military dictatorship that ruled Brazil from April 1, 1964 to March 15, 1985. The Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council (AFPRC) gained control of Gambia between 1994-96.

Also see[]

Coups
Khakistocracy
Threat construction
Military junta
Political Spectrum
Political terminology
Politics
martial law
One-party state
Military terminology
Films depicting Latin American military dictatorships
List of political leaders who held active military ranks in office