Military Governments

Military Governments

Military governments have been around since the days of feudalism. It

is the oldest and most common political state. According to Shively, a military

government is one in which a group of officers use their troops to take over the

governmental apparatus and run it themselves. Military governments are usually

weak in appeasing the masses for they are known to be brutal and power hungry

and are also rather fragile, both internally and externally.

In its primitive state, existing as feudalism, the high ranking

officials/nobility and the military itself was composed solely of the elite

ruling class. But as society became more complex, the role of the elite was

slightly altered as technology progressed and the nobility and kings no longer

controlled weapons nor could prevent the disintegration of the feudal society.

Modern military governments usually occur after the military stages a

coup. A coup is the forceful deposition of a government by all or a portion of

the armed forces and installation of a new military government. Coups

ordinarily take place when the present government poses a threat to the state or

the status quo. Because the military controls more armed power than anyone in a

state, they have the ability to take over the government at any given time. In

Power and Choice, Shively questions the notion of the infrequency of military

governments. Yes, they are common, but why aren't they more common? The reason

being that as societies advance and become more complex, it is necessary for the

ruling elite to be more knowledgeable of the processes by which a government is

operated. This explains the recurrence of civilian-run governments. The

military may have a few leaders who are skilled politically, but the armed

forces are not customarily trained to run governments. Recall that the role of

the military is to protect and serve the state, therefore there is usually a

cycle, known as the Barracks cycle, in which the military brings about a coup,

but later reestablishes civilian control, and is the new state threatens

governmental stability, the military stages yet another coup, etc. The longer

the military stays in power, the more the political state exists unstably.

In Nigeria, for ...

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... form of government or evolve to a new sophisticated

government.

In any case, military governments are weak internally and externally.

They pose as forms of transitional governments, not necessarily in times of

revolution, but in times when the state itself becomes weak or poses a threat to

the status quo. Though some military governments do perservere for years and

years without being overthrown, their inability to run the state efficiently

forces the military to restore democracy or to stage another overthrow of the

government. Also, because the military government itself takes power through no

regular process as other, more stable forms of government, but simply seizes it,

they encounter the problem of legitimacy. Lastly, coalitions internally are in

itself a whole other government. The weakness and competition present between

these coalitions usually causes the downfall of the military government and

installment of a new civilian-run government decided so by the general consensus.

Generally, all military governments will fail in time and return to it previous

government or evolve to a whole new governmental system with a revolution.