Military Dictatorship 101
The government exercised without opposition, legal system or legislation is called a dictatorship. The term, which comes from the Latin dictatūra, also serves to refer to the time this type of mandate lasts and to the country that is directed under this type of government.
Military, on the other hand, is that belonging to or related to war or the militia. The members, institutions and facilities belonging to the armed forces can also be called this way.
A military dictatorship is the government exercised by the armed forces without respect for the legal order or the law. The leader of this regime is known as a dictator and, generally, he has the characteristic of being an extremely charismatic person or of a certain presence that makes everyone venerate him or, failing that, at least respect him.
Some phrases where the concept appears are: “The bloody military dictatorship of the African country left thousands dead”, “Those responsible for the Argentine military dictatorship are being judged”, “The population has to defend democracy in the street to prevent it from returning to take power a military dictatorship”.
The most common way in which a group of people manages to seize control of a state is through a revolt in which they remove the current democratic government and put themselves or the leader they have chosen in its place.
Generally these revolts are led by military groups; That is why they usually achieve their goals, not finding a force as powerful as them capable of stopping them. In some cases, paramilitary groups emerge that reach a certain level of arms organization and confront the military; but even then it is not possible to put an end to the revolt and rebuild peace in the country.
Thus, using military force, the former manage not only to carry out the coup d’état but also to remain in power: the use of weapons is the main support of a dictatorship of this type. Through the repression of opponents, torture and the imposition of terror to prevent dissent, the military dictatorship manages to control the streets and set its rules beyond any legal or constitutional limit.
Constitutional dictatorships
It is important to clarify that a military dictatorship does not always take control of the situation in a place after a coup d’état. Many times, it does so through legal or democratic means (with some civilian winning elections and then turning his government into a dictatorial form with the armed forces at the helm).
In the case of legal dictatorships, also called constitutional dictatorships , the government slowly acquires its place of authority, undermining the freedoms of the people little by little. In some cases, he even gets him to believe his lies and bet on this type of organization, believing that it is the best way to get ahead as a country.
These types of dictatorships are usually more dangerous than those won by force because it is very likely that the people will be in their favor and approve things that will later end up being totally disastrous for the citizenry. In addition, these governments appropriate the Legislative, Executive and Judicial powers, and manage to change laws of the constitution to put it in their favor and thus approve any barbarity that serves them to achieve more power and dominate the people with greater rigor.
But although this may be somewhat legal, it is evident that it is a fraud against the rule of law and, generally, sooner or later things turn around; This happens when part of the people, opposed to the government, goes to work and leads a revolution that ends up throwing out the dictator.
