Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-11T09:03:03.610Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Impact of Civilians on Defense Policy in New Democracies: The Case of Brazil

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 May 2019

Octavio Amorim Neto
Octavio Amorim Neto*
Affiliation:
Octavio Amorim Neto is a full professor and researcher in the Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration (EBAPE), Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV).
*
oamorim@fgv.br
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article argues that growing civilian direction of the defense sector should generate three consequences: greater interoperability of the armed forces, a stronger emphasis on operations outside the national territory (here called externalism), and better defense-diplomacy coordination. An original investigation of the makeup of the drafting committees of three of Brazil’s national security strategy documents since the mid-1990s shows that varying rates of civilian participation in defense policymaking generate an impact on defense policy directives commensurate with theoretical expectations. Defense policy implementation, however, has found varying degrees of success. Using new and systematic quantitative data, this study demonstrates that interoperability has made progress, defense-diplomacy coordination is at an intermediate stage, and externalism, albeit not a failure, is still far from a success. Externalism’s performance is a consequence of rising crime, deficient police forces, the pragmatism of civilian elites, and public support for law-and-order military missions.

Keywords

civil-military relationsnational security strategy documentsinteroper-abilitylaw-and-order operationsdefense-diplomacy coordination
Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Politics and Society , Volume 61 , Issue 3 , August 2019 , pp. 1 - 28
Copyright
© University of Miami 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Afflerbach, Holger. 2004. Wilhelm as Supreme Warlord in the First World War. In The Kaiser: New Research on Wilhelm II’s Role in Imperial Germany, ed. Mombauer, Annika and Deist, Wilhelm. New York: Cambridge University Press. 195–216.Google Scholar
Almeida, Carlos Wellington de. 2010. Política de defesa no Brasil: considerações do ponto de vista das políticas públicas. Opinião Pública 16: 220–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Almeida, Paulo Roberto de. 2010. A arte de não fazer a guerra: novos comentários à Estratégia Nacional de Defesa. Revista de Geopolítica 1: 5–20.Google Scholar
Alsina Júnior, João Paulo Soares. 2006. Política externa e política de defesa no Brasil: síntese imperfeita. Brasília: Câmara dos Deputados, Coordenação de Publicações.Google Scholar
Alsina Júnior, João Paulo Soares. 2009. Política externa e poder militar no Brasil: universos paralelos. Rio de Janeiro: FGV Editora.Google Scholar
Barany, Zoltan. 2012. The Soldier and the Changing State: Building Democratic Armies in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Bertonha, João Fábio. 2010. Brazil: An Emerging Military Power? The Problem of the Use of Force in Brazilian International Relations in the 21st Century. Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional 53: 107–124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brands, Hal. 2010. Dilemmas of Brazilian Grand Strategy. Carlisle: Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College. https://ssi.armywarcollege.edu/pubs/display.cfm?pubID=1017CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brazil. Ministry of Defense. 1996. National Defense Policy (NDP 1996). http://www.css.ethz.ch/content/specialinterest/gess/cis/center-for-securities-studies/en/services/digital-library/publications/publication.html/154865. Accessed December 17, 2014.Google Scholar
Brazil. Ministry of Defense. 2005. National Defense Policy (NDP 2005). http://www.css.ethz.ch/content/specialinterest/gess/cis/center-for-securities-studies/en/services/digital-library/publications/publication.html/154867. Accessed December 25, 2014.Google Scholar
Brazil. Ministry of Defense. 2012. White Paper on National Defense (WP 2012). http://www.defesa.gov.br/index.php/estado-e-defesa-a/livro-branco-de-defesa-nacional. Accessed January 20, 2015. Brazil. Ministry of Defense. 2014. Garantia da lei e da ordem. http://www.defesa.gov.br/arquivos/2014/mes02/md33_m_10_glo_2ed_2014.pdf.Google Scholar
Brazil. Presidência da República. 1999. Lei Complementar 97. Brasília. http://www.pla-nalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/leis/LCP/Lcp97.htm.Google Scholar
Brazil. Presidência da República. 2001. Decreto 3897. Brasília. http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/decreto/2001/d3897.htmGoogle Scholar
Brigagão, Clóvis, and Proença, Domício Jr. 2015. Os militares e a política de defesa. In Sis-tema político brasileiro: uma introdução, ed. Lúcia, Avelar and Octávio Cintra, Antônio. Rio de Janeiro: Konrad Adenauer Stiftung. 331–42.Google Scholar
Bruneau, Thomas C. 2013. Civilians and the Military in Latin America: The Absence of Incentives. Latin American Politics and Society 55, 4: 143–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bruneau, Thomas C., and Cristiana Matei, Fiorina, eds. 2013. The Routledge Handbook of Civil-Military Relations. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Bruneau, Thomas C., and Tollefson, Scott D.. 2014.Civil-Military Relations in Brazil: A Reassessment. Journal of Politics in Latin America 6: 107–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Castro, Flávio Mendes de Oliveira, and de Oliveira Castro, Francisco Mendes. 2009. Dois séculos de história da organização do Itamaraty (1808–2008), vol. 2. Brasília: Fundação Alexandre de Gusmão.Google Scholar
Cepik, Marco, and Licks-Bertol, Frederico. 2016. Defense Policy in Brazil: Bridging the Gap Between Ends and Means. Defence Studies 16: 1–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Croissant, Aurel, and Kuehn, David, eds. 2017. Reforming Civil-Military Relations in New Democracies: Democratic Control and Military Effectiveness in Comparative Perspective. Cham, Switzerland: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
D’Araujo, Maria Celina. 2010. Militares, democracia, e desenvolvimento: Brasil e América do Sul. Rio de Janeiro: FGV Editora.Google Scholar
Desch, Michael. 1999. Civilian Control of the Military: The Changing Security Environment. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Dreisbach, Tristan. 2016. Civilians Get a Foot in the Door: Reforming Brazil’s Defense Ministry, 2007–2010. Case study. Innovations for Successful Societies, Princeton University. https://successfulsocieties.princeton.edu/publications/civilians-get-foot-door-reforming-brazil%E2%80%99s-defense-ministry-2007%E2%80%932010Google Scholar
Duarte, António Paulo. 2014. A Estratégia Nacional de Defesa do Brasil e o Conceito Estratégico de Defesa Nacional de Portugal: comparação de duas estratégias nacionais de segurança e defesa. Nação e Defesa no. 138: 63–89.Google Scholar
García, Denise. 2014. Not Yet a Democracy: Establishing Civilian Authority over the Security Sector in Brazil—Lessons for Other Countries in Transition. Third World Quarterly 35: 487–504.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jaskoski, Maiah. 2012. Civilian Control of the Armed Forces in Democratic Latin America: Military Prerogatives, Contestation, and Mission Performance in Peru. Armed Forces & Society 38: 70–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaufman, Stuart J. 1994. Organizational Politics and Change in Soviet Military Policy. World Politics 46: 355–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lima, Shênia K. de. 2013. Estratégia Nacional de Defesa do Brasil: comentários sobre a sua implementação (2008-2011). Security and Defense Studies Review 14: 117–27.Google Scholar
Lins, Gisele L. A. L. F. 2007. A (des)articulação entre o Ministério das Relações Exteriores e o Ministério da Defesa na Missão das Nações Unidas de Estabilização do Haiti—Minustah. Master’s thesis, Department of Political Science, Federal University of Pernambuco.Google Scholar
Loveman, Brian. 1999. For La Patria: Politics and the Armed Forces in Latin America. Wilmington: SR Books.Google Scholar
Mares, David, and Martínez, Rafael, eds. 2014. Debating Civil-Military Relations in Latin America. Sussex: Sussex Academic Press.Google Scholar
Mares, David, and Trinkunas, Harold A.. 2016. Aspirational Power: Brazil on the Long Road to Global Influence. Washington. DC: Brookings Institution Press.Google Scholar
Martínez, Rafael. 2014. Objectives for Democratic Consolidation in the Armed Forces. In Mares and Martínez 2014. 21–58.Google Scholar
Martínez, Rafael, and Durán, Marién. 2017. International Missions as a Way to Improve Civil-Military Relations: The Spanish Case (1989-2015). Democracy and Security 13: 1–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oliveira Júnior, Almir de, Edison Benedito, da Silva Filho, and Fracalossi de Moraes, Rodrigo. 2014. Padrões de percepção sobre a defesa nacional entre os brasileiros. In SIPS 2014: percepções da população sobre políticas públicas, ed. Marcelo, Cortês Neri and Schia vinatto, Fabio. Rio de Janeiro: IPEA.Google Scholar
Paiva, Ana Luiza B. 2016. Instituições de defesa e processo decisório: por uma avaliação da arquitetura institucional de defesa no Brasil à luz do modelo estadunidense em perspectiva comparada (1991–2015). Ph.D. diss., Department of History, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.Google Scholar
Perry, Chris, and Smith, Adam C.. 2013. Trends in Uniformed Contributions to UN Peacekeeping: A New Dataset, 1991–2012. Providing for Peacekeeping no. 3: June. New York: International Peace Institute. ipi_e_pub_trends_un_peacekeeping.pdf">https://www.ipinst.org/wp-content/uploads/publications/ipi_e_pub_trends_un_peacekeeping.pdf">ipi_e_pub_trends_un_peacekeeping.pdfGoogle Scholar
Pion-Berlin, David. 2009. Defense Organization and Civil-Military Relations in Latin America. Armed Forces & Society 35: 562–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pion-Berlin, David. 2016. Military Missions in Democratic Latin America. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pion-Berlin, David, and Arceneaux, Craig. 2000. Decision-makers or Decision-takers? Military Missions and Civilian Control in Democratic South America. Armed Forces & Society 26: 413–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pion-Berlin, David, and Martínez, Rafael. 2017. Soldiers, Politicians, and Civilians: Reforming Civil-Military Relations in Democratic Latin America. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pion-Berlin, David, and Trinkunas, Harold. 2005. Democratization, Social Crisis, and the Impact of Military Domestic Roles in Latin America. Journal of Political and Military Sociology 33: 5–24.Google Scholar
Pion-Berlin, David, and Manuel Ugarte, José, eds. 2013a. Organización de la defensa y control civil de las fuerzas armadas en América Latina. Buenos Aires: Jorge Baudino.Google Scholar
Pion-Berlin, David, and Manuel Ugarte, José, eds. 2013b. Introduction. In Pion-Berlin and Ugarte 2013a. 7–20.Google Scholar
Posen, Barry R. 1984. Sources of Military Doctrine: France, Britain, and Germany Between the World Wars. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Proença, Domício Júnior. 2000. Projeto pedagógico para a escola de altos estudos de defesa do Brasil. Rio de Janeiro: Escola Superior de Guerra.Google Scholar
Proença, Domício Júnior, and Diniz, Eugênio. 2008. The Brazilian Conceptualization of Security: Philosophical, Ethical and Cultural Contexts and Issues. In Globalization and Environmental Challenges: Reconceptualizing Security in the 21st Century, ed. Hans, Günter Brauch et al. Berlin: Springer. 311–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quintana, Juan Ramón, ed. 2001. Libros blancos de defensa: concertación política y diseñ o estra-tégico comparado. La Paz: Ministerio de Defensa Nacional, Unidad de Análisis de Políticas de Defesa.Google Scholar
Seabra, Pedro. 2014. Política de defesa, política externa e grande estratégia do Brasil. Nação e Defesa no. 138: 45–62.Google Scholar
Seabra, Pedro. 2016. Defence Cooperation Between Brazil and Namibia: Enduring Ties Across the South Atlantic. South African Journal of International Affairs 23: 89–106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sepúlveda, Isidro, and Alda, Sonia, eds. 2008. La administración de la defensa en América Latina: estudios comparados. Vol. 3. Madrid: Instituto Universitario General Gutiérrez Mellado.Google Scholar
Serra, Narcís. 2010. The Military Transition: Democratic Reform of the Armed Forces. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Sotomayor, Arturo C. 2014. The Myth of the Democratic Peacekeeper: Civil-Military Relations and the United Nations. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Souza, Amaury de. 2009. A agenda internacional do Brasil: a política externa de FHC a Lula. Rio de Janeiro: Campus.Google Scholar
Stepan, Alfred. 1986. Rethinking Military Politics: Brazil and the Southern Cone. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Stolberg, Allan G. 2012. How Nation-States Craft National Security Strategy Documents. Carlisle: Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College. http://ssi.armywarcollege.edu/pubs/display.cfm?pubID=1128Google Scholar
United Nations. 2014. Troop and Police Contributors Archive (1990-2014). https://peace-keeping.un.org/en/troop-and-police-contributors. Accessed March 27, 2015.Google Scholar
Villa, Rafael A. D., and Viana, Manuela T.. 2010. Security Issues During Lula’s Administration: From the Reactive to the Assertive Approach. Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional 53: 91–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, Peter B. 2017. Crises and Crisis Generations: The Long-term Impact of International Crises on Military Political Participation. Security Studies 26: 575–605.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Winand, Érica, and Luis Saint-Pierre, Héctor 2010. A fragilidade da condução política da defesa no Brasil. História 29: 3–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zaverucha, Jorge. 2006. The Fragility of the Brazilian Defense Ministry. Revista de Sociología Política 25: 107–121.Google Scholar