Often people in everyday life or in the media hear the word "Junta". What it is? What does this concept mean? Let's try to figure it out. This term is associated with Latin America. We are talking about such a thing as the "junta" regime. In translation, the mentioned word means “united” or “connected”. The power of the junta is a kind of authoritarian political regime, a military-bureaucratic dictatorship established as a result of a military coup and managing the state in a dictatorial way, as well as with the help of terror. To understand the essence of this regime, you must first understand what a military form of dictatorship is.
Military dictatorship
Military dictatorship is a form of government in which the military has almost absolute power. They tend to overthrow the incumbent government through a coup d'état. This form is similar but not identical.stratocracy. Under the latter, the military officials directly rule the country. Like every type of dictatorship, this form can be both official and unofficial. Many dictators, like Manuel Noriega in Panama, were required to submit to a civilian government, but that was only in name. Despite the regime's structure based on coercive methods, it is still not quite a stratocracy. Some kind of screen still existed. There are also mixed types of dictatorial control, in which military officials have a very serious influence on power, but they do not control the situation alone. Typical military dictatorships in Latin America were usually juntas.
Junta - what is it?
This term has become widespread thanks to the military regimes in Latin American countries. In Soviet political science, the junta meant the power of reactionary military groups in a number of capitalist states that established a regime of military dictatorship of a fascist or close to fascism kind. The junta was a committee, which consisted of a number of officers. And not always it was the highest command. This is evidenced by the catchy Latin American expression "the power of the colonels."
Soviet interpretation
In the post-Soviet space, the concept in question has received a clearly negative connotation, therefore it is also used for propaganda purposes to create a negative image of the government of a particular state. ATfiguratively, the concept of "junta" is also applied to the governments of kleptocratic countries with the highest level of corruption. In everyday colloquial speech, this term can even be used in relation to a group of people who take some kind of action by mutual agreement. However, their goals are dishonorable or even criminal.
Junta: what is it in terms of the political system?
The military junta was one of the most massive types of authoritarian regimes that arose during the period when a number of Latin American and other states gained freedom from colonial dependence. After the creation of nation-states in traditional societies, the military turned out to be the most cohesive and organized layer of society. They were able to lead the masses, based on the ideas of national self-determination. After being approved in power, the policy of the military elite in different countries took on a different direction: in some states it led to the removal of corrupt comprador elites from office and, on the whole, benefited the formation of a national state (Indonesia, Taiwan). In other cases, the military elite itself became a tool for realizing the influence of serious centers of power. The story goes that most of the military dictatorships in Latin America were financed by the United States. The benefit to the US was that there would be no communist regime in a certain country as long as the junta ruled. What it is, we hope, it has already become clear.
The fate of most juntas
The point isthat many believe that democracy in many countries began precisely with the "junta" regime. What does this mean? After the Second World War died down, most of the military dictatorships that took control of a number of countries under their control were only of a transitional nature. The power of the junta gradually evolved from an authoritarian regime to democracy. Examples are countries such as South Korea, Argentina, Spain, Brazil and others. The reasons for this lie in the following. First, over time, economic and political contradictions grew within the state. Secondly, the influence of developed industrial states, which sought to increase the number of democratic countries, grew. Today, regimes such as the junta are almost non-existent. However, this term has become firmly established in the everyday life of the whole world.
