Democracy and education: Notes over military training in Argentina and Brazil

This article assumes that the countless military interventions and coups, and the decades in which both Argentina and Brazil lived under dictatorships; constitute an obstacle for democracy and reveal the importance of educating soldiers on the importance of military subordination to civilian authori...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Penido Oliveira, Ana Amélia, Mathias, Suzeley Kalil, Mei, Eduardo
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2020
País:Ecuador
Institución:Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales
Repositorio:Revista ICONOS
Idioma:español
OAI Identifier:oai:iconos.flacsoandes.edu.ec:article/4309
Acceso en línea:https://iconos.flacsoandes.edu.ec/index.php/iconos/article/view/4309
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Argentina
Brasil
democracia
educação militar
Forças Armadas
regimes burocráticos-autoritários
Brazil
democracy
military education
Armed Forces
bureaucratic- authoritarian regimes
educación militar
Fuerzas Armadas
regímenes burocrático-autoritarios
Descripción
Sumario:This article assumes that the countless military interventions and coups, and the decades in which both Argentina and Brazil lived under dictatorships; constitute an obstacle for democracy and reveal the importance of educating soldiers on the importance of military subordination to civilian authorities. Four major findings can be derived from the above assumptions, i) a new educational approach is unavoidable if military autonomy is to be overcome and if military subordination to civilian authorities is to take root; ii) Military  education is also crucial in the training of competent military leaders, able to fulfill their duties to the countries they serve; iii) Military autonomy hampers democratic consolidation and international cooperation in defense issues; iv) Reducing the differences between military training and the civilian educational system facilitates operational defense policies and fosters the internalization of democratic values into the ranks. The differences found between the Argentinian and Brazilian cases clearly illustrate the dilemmas involved in military education. Thus, it seems useful to subject both countries to a comparative study of their opposing experiences. In order to achieve this, a military education matrix is used. The matrix is composed of four quadrants: normative, relational, teaching systematics and internal. This article focuses in the normative quadrant and shows that Brazil´s current military training is clearly behind Argentina’s in applying changes supportive of democratic transition.