Political Radicalism in Colombia: Electoral Dynamics of 1962 and 1964

1965 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth F. Johnson

Who is to blame when the political rhythm of an organized society slips into atrophy and chaos? This enigmatic question towers in the background of recent Colombian history. A country of relative political stability since the birth of Liberalism in the 1930's, Colombia's political life was suddenly rent in 1948 by a horrendous bloodletting which threatened to raze Bogotá and plunged the nation into anarchy. The real villain, wrote Vernon Fluharty, was the system itself. Although the civil war proportions of the violence that followed the bogotazo were ended during the military government of Gustavo Rojas Pinilla (1953-57), a fierce sequence of guerrilla activities continued to plague the countryside. Much of the violence was precipitated by young men who, having deserted their primary groups after the assassination of Gaitán, carried on the war against humanity as a way of life, often in the absence of any ostensible political motive or economic gain.

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 75
Author(s):  
EkramBadr El-din ◽  
Mohamed Dit Dah Ould Cheikh

The current study tries to examine the military coups that have occurred in Turkey and Mauritania. These coups differ from the other coups that occurred in the surrounding countries in the phase of democratization as these coups served as a hindrance to the process of democratization in Turkey and Mauritania. The problem of the study revolves around the analysis of the coups that happened in Turkey and Mauritania in the phase of democratic transition. The research is designed to answer the following question: what are the reasons that prompted the military establishment to intervene in political life in the shadow of the process of democratization in Turkey and Mauritania? The study aims at understanding reasons that pushed the military establishment to intervene in the political life. To discuss this phenomenon and achieve the required results, the analytical descriptive approach is adopted for concluding key results that may contribute to understand reasons that pushed the military establishment to intervene in the political life in Turkey and Mauritania in the aftermath democratization occurred in the two countries. The study concluded that the military establishment in both countries engaged in the political action and became ready to militarily intervene in the case of harming its interests and acquisitions. 


2002 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 93-121
Author(s):  
Ade Kunle Amuwo

Abstract:The academic political scientists—mainly professors—who were hired by the Babangida military government in Nigeria between 1985 and 1993, ostensibly to theorize and articulate a new political culture and morality through the political transition program (PTP), have been objects, both then and ever since, of serious criticism concerning their role and contribution to a program that promised much but delivered little or nothing. The major criticism is that the political scientists, despite an initial commitment to help the military fashion a new political order, lost their “science” by providing an intellectual cover for the general's schemes and enriched the “political,” including the politics of corruption and self-enrichment. We examine this critique and show that these individuals, by choosing to remain in office—if not in power—even after witnessing so many broken promises by the regime, tarnished their intellectual integrity and moral credibility. Appointed to serve as an instrument of legitimization for the regime, they contained, constricted, and shrank the political and intellectual space rather than facilitating intellectual and democratic empowerment.


Subject The impact of the failed July coup on civilian-military relations. Significance The psychological impacts of the attempted coup across political life cannot be understated; it has far-reaching implications for the political, bureaucratic and even ideological structures of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK). In the aftermath of the attempted putsch, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is more determined than ever to alter the civilian-military machinery of government in Turkey radically. Impacts The purge and radical reforms will bring into question the TSK's operational and strategic reliability for Western partners. A permanently weakened TSK would ease the way for constitutional reforms strengthening Erdogan's grip on the state. It will take years to rebuild the confidence and prestige the military has lost among broad swathes of Turkish society. Any criticism of the TSK reforms, domestically or from abroad, will meet the authorities' fierce condemnation.


Author(s):  
Juvence F. Ramasy

In many African countries, armies played a key public role in the aftermath of independence. For this reason, no study of African politics can overlook the militarization of the state. Postcolonial Madagascar, for example, was ruled for over two decades by personnel from its army. National armies often present themselves as neutral entities that can guarantee a country’s political stability. However, there is no such thing as neutrality, whether in Africa or elsewhere. The best hope for armies to become and remain as politically neutral as possible is the demilitarization of political power. The withdrawal of the military from politics and their subordination to civilian decisions is important but does not suffice to ensure the army’s political neutrality. Such a withdrawal was widely carried out through the third wave of democratization, the historical period during which there was a sustained and significant increase in the proportion of competitive regimes. Democratization processes cannot succeed without efforts toward neutralizing the military, and thus, toward demilitarizing the political society and depoliticizing the army. Post-transition regimes striving for democracy should bring about and preserve a formal separation of power between the political and the civilian spheres. For these regimes to establish a solid mandate, the army and the security apparatus need to be placed under democratic control. In Africa, the disengagement of the military from the public sphere came about with the political transitions of the 1990s. But changes in political regimes over the past decade have challenged the democratization process, as the return of praetorianism (an excessive political influence of the armed forces in the Sahel and Madagascar) testifies. Hence, demilitarizing politics, on the one hand and depoliticizing and reprofessionalizing the army on the other remain essential issues to be addressed.


2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-162
Author(s):  
Hamsa Kahtan Khalaf

Abstract The Iraqi political parties had been affected since 2003 by the political pivotal transformations which happened according to the aftermaths of democratic elections , especially under the disruptions of American’s invasion that led in cooperation with its allies in April 2003 .So the social and political situations became ruling according to the new aspects of practicing the new stage of authority as compromise settlements and quota and ethno - sectarian distribution to be as following as compatible with theory of practicing the authority responsibilities(Power sharing ) as what happened now , besides to that all political democracy scene has greatly been distorted because of the instability penetrated within rebuilding the state and its institutions from the beginning as planned by an active powerful political forces . Many functions that are characterized by competitions among the political parties had changed the concepts of exercising democracy in a real way to be done an effective shape ,because of the political and social actors had different role ,which were being a reflection of another reality within the democracy’s process .So that all the situations had been complicated too much owing to the factors of political instability that influenced negatively on the framework of the state , especially the impacts of economic and social factors as of poverty, stagnation , ignorance and disease and another underdevelopment features which predominated over political and social retrogression levels . In addition to that the absence of an efficient administrative elites , which appeared recently under different conditions and circumstances .So it was became very obviously as we know precisely that democracy’s process in Iraq since 2003 was comprehensively undemocratic in practicing because the political forces have not democratic culture that encourage the dialogue to solve all pending problems , and have not abundant tolerance to accept the differences of others parties yet . The phenomenon of the political instability has divided into different varieties by which scattering among the addresses of suspicion and it definitely has a sectarian discourse dimension in case of dealing among each other . So these addresses and dialogues were being away from the political national conformity correctly , because of there was something like definitely as the exclusion and marginalization discourses in order to narrowing any active political party within the political process try to do pro - active role to settle all pending crises . Furthermore , the reality of political life has been under the continuous crises and conflicts over an authority along time not to gain gradually the outcomes of procurement during application the constitution clauses and valid laws , in order to preserving the political stability and to be done more far from the national unity fragmentation and the weakness of political institutions . Finally , we need too much time to reach into condition of stability , especially after opening anew spaces toward active real participation , and because there was a growing need for educated people who could administer the society and the state institutionally by existing strong government, and ultimately peoples will have ability to form new political governing elites later.


Author(s):  
Lee J. Alston ◽  
Marcus André Melo ◽  
Bernardo Mueller ◽  
Carlos Pereira

This chapter discusses the factors, especially changing beliefs, that led to redemocratization and the subsequent institutional changes during the years 1985–1993. After the military government, the middle class demanded more inclusion in the political arena. To a certain extent, this happened with multiple parties, and only one claiming to be a right-wing party. Unexpectedly, the franchise was given to illiterates seemingly because the belief in social inclusion warranted it; the illiterates were not in the streets clamoring for the vote. The granting of the franchise to illiterates had few short-term, but many long-run, consequences. Moreover, the business sector was less open than the political sector, with the initial maintenance of import substitution programs. Business was still in the hands of elites with lots of regulations as well as ways to avoid regulations—for a price.


Author(s):  
Adeed Dawisha

This chapter analyzes political developments in Iraq from 1936 to 1958. Any growth of democratic ideas and institutions that had been achieved earlier came to an abrupt halt in 1936 following the military coup. Army officers, custodians of political power between 1936 and 1941, cared little, if at all, about democratic institutions and practices. They were succeeded by civilian governments, openly abetted by the Palace, which systematically interfered in the workings of the country's supposed representative institutions. Political parties and groupings operating within the straitjacket of military government and martial law had all but disappeared from the political scene. And successive governments made certain to emasculate Parliament of even the flimsiest pretense of independence and impartiality.


2019 ◽  
pp. 227-236
Author(s):  
The Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue

Somalia and Somaliland had parallel colonial experiences under Italian and British rule, respectively. In 1960, both gained independence and entered into a union. However, in 1969, the civilian government of the Somali Republic in Mogadishu was overthrown in a coup organized by the military, precipitating a brutal civil war. With the collapse of the military government in Mogadishu in 1991, Somaliland declared its independence from the Somali Republic. Since then, the two sides followed quite different trajectories. This chapter takes a detailed look at the recent history of dialogue between the two parties and offers recommendations on how best to establish an effective process. It suggests that the political stalemate will be resolved by the agreement of some form of mutually acceptable political association or official recognition of Somaliland as an independent state.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (21) ◽  
pp. 103-128
Author(s):  
Gilberto Hochman

Este artigo aborda o programa de erradicação da varíola no Brasil (1966-1973), para analisar o fim de doenças e epidemias em contextos locais. O foco recai sobre os antecedentes de um marco específico e crucial desse processo: o anúncio oficial de seu desaparecimento em agosto de 1973 em pleno regime militar. O objetivo do artigo é compreender como as dimensões políticas, científicas e sanitárias se entrecruzaram na pouca repercussão de uma conquista da saúde pública que mobilizou recursos, governos, população e organizações internacionais. O artigo, baseado em fontes primárias e secundárias, está dividido em quatro partes. A primeira discute as questões gerais relativas ao fim de epidemias e desaparecimento de doenças em contextos locais. A segunda apresenta a dinâmica política e sanitária e as características da campanha de erradicação da varíola entre 1966 e 1980, em suas faces internacional e nacional. A terceira discute os desafios, as desconfianças e as incertezas que envolveram a determinação de que a varíola estava eliminada no Brasil do regime militar entre os anos de 1970 e 1973. Na conclusão, retoma-se a questão do término de epidemias e doenças em contextos históricos e nacionais à luz da erradicação da varíola.Palavras-chave: varíola, governo militar, saúde pública, doença, epidemias. ***This article discusses the smallpox eradication program in Brazil (1966-1973) to analyze the end of diseases and epidemics in local contexts. The focus is on the background of a specific and crucial milestone in this process: the official announcement of its disappearance in August 1973 in the midst of the military regime. The objective of the article is to understand how the political, scientific and health dimensions intertwined in the little repercussion of a public health achievement that mobilized resources, governments, populations, and international organizations. The article, based on primary and secondary sources, is divided into four parts. The first discusses general issues related to the end of epidemics and the disappearance of diseases in local contexts. The second presents the political and health dynamics, and the smallpox eradication campaign’s characteristics between 1966 and 1980, in its international and national aspects. The third discusses the challenges, suspicions, and uncertainties that involved the determination that smallpox was eliminated in Brazil, during the military regime, between 1970 and 1973. In the conclusion, ending epidemics and diseases in historical and national contexts is taken up in the light of the eradication of smallpox.Keywords: smallpox, military government, public health, diseases, epidemics.


1964 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kemal H. Karpat

The internal political life of Turkey since the revolution of 1960 JL has been beset by military coups and conflicts between political parties and social groups far more frequent and intensive than might normally be expected in a post-revolutionary period. This unrest contrasts sharply with the political stability which prevailed before 1960, and comes after a series of constitutional changes intended to establish a better system for orderly change and control of government.


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