Militarization and Demilitarization in El Salvador's Transition to Democracy

by Williams, Philip J.; Walter, Knut

• ISBN13: 9780822956464
• ISBN10: 0822956462
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-01-01
• Publisher: Univ of Pittsburgh Pr

Summary

With the resignation of General Renee Emilio Ponce in March 1993, the Salvadorian armyrs"s sixty-year domination of El Salvador came to an end. The countryrs"s January 1992 peace accords stripped the military of the power it once enjoyed, placing many areas under civilian rule. Establishing civilian control during the transition to democracy was no easy task, especially for a country that had never experienced even a brief period of democracy in its history.Phillip J. Williams and Knut Walter argue that prolonged military rule produced powerful obstacles that limited the possibilities for demilitarization in the wake of the peace accords. The failure of the accords to address several key aspects of the militaryrs"s political power had important implications for the democratic transition and for future civil-military relations.Drawing on an impressive array of primary source materials and interviews, this book will be valuable to students, scholars, and policy makers concerned with civil-military relations, democratic transitions, and the peace process in Central America.

Table of Contents

List of Acronyms
Acknowledgments
Introduction	p. 1
The 1931 Coup and the Consolidation of Military Rule	p. 13
The New Armed Forces of the Revolutionary Government	p. 37
The Era of National Conciliation	p. 63
The Political Crisis of the 1970s	p. 85
The Military and Democratization During the 1980s	p. 114
The Armed Forces After the Peace Accords	p. 151
Conclusions: The Road Ahead	p. 184
Notes	p. 197
Bibliography	p. 231
Index	p. 239
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.