The morphology of radical military rule in Africa

Decalo, Samuel

doi:10.1080/13523278508414785

Cited by 6 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…The postcolonial state has been variously characterized as "absolutist" (Callaghy 1987), "patrimonial" (Willame 1972), "corporatist" (Nyang'oro and Shaw 1989), or "prebendal" (Joseph 1987a). Military participation in politics evokes a still earlier precedent, the "praetorianism" of Rome's imperial guard (Decalo 1976;Frankel 1981). Marxist terminology on the other hand has veered between the "caesarism" of imperial Rome (Gramsci 1971), "bonapartism" (Alavi 1972;Marx 1958) and "fascism" (Mamdani 1983).…”

Section: Bringing History Back Inmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…And fourth, coups are often the product of hegemonic crises with international as well as regional and national dimensions. (Crocker 1974;Lee 1969;Welch 1978) -Small, non-complex postcolonial armies (Coleman and Brice 1962;Decalo 1976) -Military "centrality" in terms of size, share of budget etc. (Adekson 1981;Andreski 1968; Jenkins and Kposowa 1992) -Corporate "revendication" (Martin 1976), "class action" (Lofchie 1972), salaries, budgets -Military as state or bureaucratic bourgeoisie (Meillassoux 1970;Wolpin 1980) -Professionalism (Janowitz 1977;Luckham 1971b;Martin 1976); external reference groups (Price 1971) -"New professionalism" of internal security and role expansion (Stepan 1973) (b) Internal Contradictions and Conflicts -Rapid Africanization and organizational newness: fast promotions, rank inflation, disrupted career lines (Baynham 1988;Hutchful 1979a;Jenkins and Kposowa 1992;Luckham 1971b) -Hierarchical tensions senior/junior officers; military peer groups (Baynham 1988;Hutchful 1973;Ihonvbere 1991;Luckham 1971b) -Military class relations between officers and subordinate strata; problems of discipline (Hutchful 1986;Lofchie 1972;Luckham 1971b) -Ethnic and regional imbalances (Adekson 1979;Cox 1976;Enloe 1980; Omara-Otunnu 1987) -Cabals, cliques, clientage, personal ambitions (Decalo 1976; Zolberg 1968) -Rivalries among armed forces, paramilitary, police and intelligence services (Baynham 1988;First 1970;Pateman 1992) Macrosocietal Contradictions, Weakness of Civil Society -Weakness, atrophy, fragility of civil instit...…”

Section: Beyond the Problematique Of The Coup: Military Force Regimementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, too narrow a focus on coups diverts attention from other significant changes, including the consolidation of authoritarian regimes, which is in just as much need of explanation as military intervention (Decalo 1991). As Lunde documents with trend data up to 1985 (1991; see also Bienen and Van de Walle 1989), the probability of coups and attempts rose sharply each of the first three or four years after independence, and following every subsequent change of regime.…”

Section: The Military Militarization and Democratizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Together these cover only five states-namely Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Uganda and South Africa-all of them English speaking, and for the most part deal with events in the 1960s and 1970s. In addition, there are a small number of sustained comparative studies, all somewhat out of date (Decalo 1976;First 1970;Lee 1969;Martin 1975Martin , 1976Odetola 1982) and edited compilations or books of essays of varying merit (Baynham 1986;Bienen 1989;Harbeson 1987;Markakis and Waller 1986;Welch 1970). Studies of other state security apparatuses, for example, the police, paramilitary and intelligence services, are few and far between (Lefevre 1970;Marenin 1982Marenin , 1985Pateman 1992).…”

Section: Inside the Monster: Military And Security Bureaucracies As Pmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is standard practice to warn of the pitfalls of generalizing about the military as if all armies are the same, and are homogeneous cohesive hierarchies (Decalo 1976;First 1970), for military establishments are "assemblages of men who may or may not obey their officers" (Zolberg 1968). Formal organization models derived from modernization theory are "misleading and highly ideological tool[s] for research" (Hutchful 1989b).…”

Section: Inside the Monster: Military And Security Bureaucracies As Pmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

The Military, Militarization and Democratization in Africa: A Survey of Literature and Issues

Luckham¹

1994

African Studies Review

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The studies of African military establishments that appeared from the late 1960s, after the first wave of coups, were very much the products of their time. The theories of modernization and political development that were their starting point were the ideas of an epoch: that of decolonization, nation-building, internationalization of capital, consolidation of U.S. hegemony, and globalization of American social science. They are of interest now because aspects of that epoch are repeating themselves: in particular, the reassertion of U.S. and western hegemony, the return to free market orthodoxy, and a “third wave” of transitions to democracy (Huntington 1991). Three overlapping debates dominated the literature on the military in developing countries during the 1960s and 1970s. They revolved initially around the conditions of democracy and civilian control. They shifted to the role of the military in modernization or development as armies moved into politics, then focused on political order following deep hegemonic crises in developing countries themselves and in their relations with the West. Early studies of newly formed African armies and police establishments saw them as part of an institutional transfer of western paradigms of governance, along with the Westminster model and Gaullist presidentialism. Military professionalism was integral to the neocolonial enterprise of transferring power to elites, requiring accelerated training in metropolitan and local academies of African “Narcissuses in uniform” (First 1970, chap. 3).

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Section: Bringing History Back Inmentioning

confidence: 99%