Ejércitos y política en América Latina

Army officers rule in more than half of the Latin American countries; in most of the remainder, they are actively involved in politics. Why do the majority of the armed forces in Latin America participate in national political processes? The recent literature on the political role of the Latin American armed forces is extensive. The obvious differences between political activities and the impacts of armies in different countries have dissolved easy assumptions about the nature of their influence in Latin American politics. It is increasingly clear that armies participate in politics in different ways, and that there is no simple explanation for that. More importantly, it becomes clear that the approach of relating the characteristics of military institutions to the social context in which they operated provide the most promising ways to explain the various political roles played by Latin American officers.