7. The military in African politics

2018 ◽  
pp. 81-93
Author(s):  
Ian Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
The State ◽  
Military Government ◽  
African Politics ◽  
Critical Importance ◽  
Military Rule ◽  
Economic Crises ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Military

Since the 1960s, there have been more than 200 coups—extra-constitutional or forced changes in government—in Africa, with around half of them being successful. The period between the 1960s and 1990s was characterized by Cold War machinations, economic crises, and the growing de-legitimization of many post-colonial regimes. The majority of coups were followed by the formation of some type of military government, but after this diverse outcomes resulted. ‘The military in African politics’ outlines the nature of military rule and why there were so many coups. The fragility of the state and its tenuous hold on legitimacy, accentuated by the behaviour of those in power, is of critical importance.

A Special Intermittence and Continuity in Local History: The Chinese Diaspora and Their Hometown in Battlefield Quemoy during 1949-1960s

2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiang Bo-wei
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Local History ◽  
The State ◽  
Chinese Diaspora ◽  
Overseas Chinese ◽  
Military Rule ◽  
Close Attention ◽  
Community Power ◽  
The Military ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract From 1949, Quemoy became the battlefront between the warring Nationalists and Communists as well as the frontline between Cold War nations. Under military rule, social and ideological control suppressed the community power of traditional clans and severed their connection with fellow countrymen living abroad. For 43 long years up until 1992, Quemoy was transformed from an open hometown of the Chinese diaspora into a closed battlefield and forbidden zone. During the war period, most of the Quemoy diasporic Chinese paid close attention to the state of their hometown including the security of their family members and property. In the early 1950s, they tried to keep themselves informed of the situation in Quemoy through any available medium and build up a new channel of remittances. Furthermore, as formal visits of the overseas Chinese were an important symbol of legitimacy for the KMT, Quemoy emigrants had been invited by the military authority to visit their hometown since 1950. This was in fact the only channel for the Chinese diaspora to go home. Using official files, newspapers and records of oral histories, this article analyzes the relationship between the Chinese diaspora and the battlefield, Quemoy, and takes a look at the interactions between family and clan members of the Chinese diaspora during 1949-1960s. It is a discussion of a special intermittence and continuity of local history.

Algeria: Military Past as Prologue

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul E. Lenze, Jr.
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
The State ◽  
Foreseeable Future ◽  
Military Rule ◽  
Military Involvement ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
The Military

Algeria is a state in the Maghreb that has been dominated by military rule for the majority of its existence. The National People’s Army (ANP) used nationalism to justify its intervention into politics while ensuring that withdrawal would occur only if national identity were protected. Algeria, similar to other Middle Eastern states, underwent historical trajectories influenced by colonialism, the Cold War, and post-9/11 politics; briefly experimented with democracy; and as a result, experienced the military as the dominant institution in the state. The resignation of Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika after 20 years of rule in April 2019, following six weeks of popular protest, has raised questions as to whether democratization is possible. Algeria’s history of military involvement in politics, the strength of the military as an institution, and its cooperative links with domestic elites and international actors portend the endurance of authoritarianism for the foreseeable future.

“Why Hasn’t This Teacher Been Shot?” Moral-Sexual Panic, the Repressive Right, and Brazil’s National Security State

2012 ◽  
Vol 92 (3) ◽  
pp. 403-436 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Cowan
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Military Government ◽  
Considerable Influence ◽  
Far Right ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Right ◽  
National Security State ◽  
The Military

Abstract This article takes up the story of right-wing mobilization before and during Brazil’s military government of 1964–1985. Understanding the regime’s violent countersubversion requires analysis of the ideology that framed it. This ideology flourished among a long-neglected group of far-right intellectuals and organizations that had considerable influence in successive military administrations and worked to define subversion—the military state’s ever-invoked enemy—in terms chiefly moral and sexual. Scholars have noted that defense of “Western Christian civilization” peppered the vague rhetoric of Cold War autocrats throughout Latin America. Yet inattention to the Right per se and to those considered extremists has impeded our understanding of the specific values bound up in such visions of the West and hence of the centrality of morality and culture in countersubversive thought. This article argues that rightists, some of them radical, echoed past conservatisms by linking morality, sexuality, and subversion in ways that gained increasing influence in the 1960s and 1970s.

State-Minority Contestations in Post-colonial Sri Lanka

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 157-165
Author(s):  
Mansoor Mohamed Fazil
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Research Method ◽  
The State ◽  
Social Forces ◽  
Social Force ◽  
State Structure ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
State And Society ◽  
The Military

Abstract This research focuses on the issue of state-minority contestations involving transforming and reconstituting each other in post-independent Sri Lanka. This study uses a qualitative research method that involves critical categories of analysis. Migdal’s theory of state-in-society was applied because it provides an effective conceptual framework to analyse and explain the data. The results indicate that the unitary state structure and discriminatory policies contributed to the formation of a minority militant social force (the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam – The LTTE) which fought with the state to form a separate state. The several factors that backed to the defeat of the LTTE in 2009 by the military of the state. This defeat has appreciably weakened the Tamil minority. This study also reveals that contestations between different social forces within society, within the state, and between the state and society in Sri Lanka still prevail, hampering the promulgation of inclusive policies. This study concludes that inclusive policies are imperative to end state minority contestations in Sri Lanka.

Violent Origins of Authoritarian Variation: Rebellion Type and Regime Type in Cold War Southeast Asia

2018 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Slater
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
The State ◽  
Regime Type ◽  
Critical Question ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Historical Case ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
The Military

AbstractDictatorships are every bit as institutionally diverse as democracies, but where does this variation come from? This article argues that different types of internal rebellion influence the emergence of different types of authoritarian regimes. The critical question is whether rebel forces primarily seek to seize state power or to escape it. Regional rebellions seeking toescapethe state raise the probability of a military-dominated authoritarian regime, since they are especially likely to unify the military while heightening friction between civilian and military elites. Leftist rebellions seeking toseizethe state are more likely to give rise to civilian-dominated dictatorships by inspiring ‘joint projects’ in which military elites willingly support party-led authoritarian rule. Historical case studies of Burma, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam illustrate the theory, elaborating how different types of violent conflict helped produce different types of dictatorships across the breadth of mainland and island Southeast Asia during the Cold War era.

Anti-Indian factions in Bangladeshi Politics (1971 – 2014): A Brief Survey

Ensemble ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-122
Author(s):  
Soham DasGupta ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Active Role ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Military Rule ◽  
Coup D'etat ◽  
Water Sharing ◽  
Popular Support ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Military

India played an active role in the liberation war of Bangladesh in 1971. The relation between the two countries remained cordial in the initial years but it soon soured with the coup d’etat of 1975. This also marked the rise of the anti-Indian elements in the Bangladeshi politics. This article makes a brief survey of anti- Indian elements that has remained a part and parcel of the political fabric of Bangladesh since 1971. It also looks into the ways in which the anti-India stance has been instrumental in garnering popular support to hold on to political power. The article begins with the background of the creation of Bangladesh and India’s active role in it which was followed by the friendship treaty signed between the two countries. Then it moves to the changing scenario following the coup d’état of 1975 which marked the visible changes within the polity of Bangladesh. The nature of nationalism underwent change moving from secularism to a religious character which found expression in the policies of the state. The military rule most often found it convenient to use the anti-Indian stance in order to please the fundamentalist elements of the country in its bid to garner popular support. The issues of water sharing, refugees and issues of fomenting possible insurgency with active support of India were highlighted. Even after the restoration of democracy, the anti-Indian factions remained active in opposing the government of Sheikh Hasina’s foreign policy with regard to India. Radical religious factions, who had throughout opposed the liberation war, still play a major role in fanning the anti-Indian sentiments in Bangladeshi politics.

4. The primacy of patronage politics

2018 ◽  
pp. 44-55
Author(s):  
Ian Taylor
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
International Institutions ◽  
Rent Seeking ◽  
The State ◽  
Modern State ◽  
African Politics ◽  
Coercive Control ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Patronage Politics

A great number of post-colonial African countries, bounded by formal frontiers and with an international presence at various international institutions such as the United Nations, function quite differently from conventional understandings of what a formal state is and should do. ‘The primacy of patronage politics’ explains that to understand African politics, the concept of neo-patrimonialism must be considered. Neo-patrimonialism is where patronage, clientelism, and rent-seeking exist, but where the structures of a modern state are also in place. In general, post-colonial African leaders have relied on coercive control and patronage through capturing power over the state, rather than through constructing a functioning impartial administration.

A construção de uma crise: usos da história por intelectuais argentinos na contestação aos tratados com o Chile nas décadas de 1960 e 1970

Diálogos ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 139
Author(s):  
Gabriel Passetti
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Beagle Channel ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Intellectual Production ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
The Military

Em 1978, os governos militares ditatoriais da Argentina e do Chile estavam à beira da guerra por conta do controle sobre três ilhas a leste do canal Beagle. As insatisfações e controvérsias, de ambos os lados, remontavam a tratados quase centenários. O artigo analisa a produção intelectual e os usos da história nas duas décadas antecedentes à “Crise do Beagle”, demonstrando a construção dos pontos de discórdia: o “expansionismo chileno” e a arbitragem internacional e de que forma estes foram aceitos e disseminados entre civis e militares envoltos pelos pensamentos da Guerra Fria. Abstract The construction of a crisis: the uses of history by Argentinean intellectuals and the contest of treaties with Chile in the 1960s and 1970s In 1978, the military dictatorships of Argentina and Chile were close to war. The tension was around the control of three islands east from the Beagle Channel. Insatisfactions and polemics, on both sides, remained to treaties signed one century ago. The paper analyses the intellectual production and the uses of history on the two decades before the “Beagle Crisis”. It presents the construction of the points of conflict: the “Chilean expansionism” and the international arbitrament. It also presents how it was acepted and circulated between civil and the military envolved in the Cold War logics. Resumen La construcción de una crisis: usos de la historia por intelectuales argentinos en la contestación a los tratados con Chile en las decadas de 1960 y 1970 En 1978, los gobiernos de las dictaduras militares de Argentina y Chile se preparaban para la guerra por el contról sobre tres islas a este del canal Beagle. Las insatisfaciones y controversias, de ambos los lados, volvian a tratrados casi centenários. El articulo analisa la producción intelectual y los usos de la história en las dos decadas anteriores a la “Crisis del Beagle”, demonstrando la constucción de los puntos de discórdia: el “expansionismo chileno” y la arbitraje internacional y de que forma estos fueron aceptos y disseminados entre civiles y militares que vivian en los pensamientos de la Guerra Fria.

The Nigerian elections of 1983

Africa ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 397-418 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Hart
Keyword(s):  
House Of Representatives ◽  
The State ◽  
Presidential Candidate ◽  
National Party ◽  
Military Government ◽  
Root Cause ◽  
General Elections ◽  
Conservative Coalition ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Military

AbstractIn 1979 Nigeria's military government held the first general elections for fifteen years. The politicians then resumed power under a republican constitution. The National Party of Nigeria, a conservative coalition, narrowly won the elections from four other parties and virtually controlled the next elections in 1983. There were five election rounds: for the President, for nine-teen state governers, for the Senate, for the House of Representatives and for the state assemblies. Increases over the 1979 vote in the presidential round indicated some rigging. Results in the following rounds were incredible. The root cause was northern reluctance within the National Party to honour an agreement to a southern presidential candidate at the next elections in 1987 and southern competition for the 1987 nomination. After the elections the courts failed to redress the rigging and the President to purge corrupt Ministers. The military then overthrew the government and resumed control.

scholarly journals Post-Colonial State and Bureaucracy in Bangladesh: Theoretical Understanding

2013 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 43-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanif Miah
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Military Rule ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
Colonial State ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
State Administration ◽  
State Bureaucracy ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Personal Interests

Bureaucracy is the management apparatus of a state administration. Even in private sector, bureaucratic organization is very much essential for its smooth functioning and betterment. A legalized domination of bureaucracy only can ensure highest efficiency of an organization in a country. But the state bureaucracy of Bangladesh not developed legally from Pre-colonial period to post-colonial phase as well as an independent Bangladesh eventually. The state bureaucracy of Bangladesh is patrimonial in nature based on personal interests. The politicians and bureaucrats are interdependent in various manners for the fulfillment of their purpose illegally in Democratic Bangladesh. Simultaneously, the impact of militarism still exists in state bureaucracy of Bangladesh as it faced military rule in several times.

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