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Week 17: The Military in Power

Lecture powerpoint

Seminar Questions

  • Why did the military take power?
  • How was the ground for 1964 prepared (both within the military as an institution and within society at large)?
  • What differences existed among the military in the 1950s and how did they manifest themselves after 1964?
  • What methods did they use to stay in power?
  • Who lost and who gained from military rule?
  • Is “economic miracle” an appropriate way to describe the military’s economic record?
  • Was there an alternative to military rule in 1964, and what problems have historians faced in establishing an answer to this question?
  • How does Brazil compare to other Southern Cone military dictatorships during the 1960s and 70s?

Seminar Reading

•Skidmore Brazil chapter 7, “Rule of the Military”;

Jerry Dávila, Dictatorship in South America (Wiley-Blackwell, 2013). Introduction, pp. 1-8, and Chapter 2, “Brazil: What Road to Development?” [e-book at library]

•Shawn C Smallman, Fear and memory in the Brazilian army and society, 1889-1954 (2002). Introduction, pp. 1-8, and Chapter 8, “The Foundations of Military Rule,” 176-184 [e-book at library]

•Araken Tavora, “Rehearsal for the Coup,” in The Brazil Reader, pp. 231-34