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