Dr. Linda A. RodrÌguez has assembled a new collection of essays that finally provides the historical context necessary to understand the Latin American military. The articles included here examine a variety of time periods and nations, from the counterinsurgency army of New Spain, to the nineteenth-century War of the Pacific, to the modern relationship between the military and development. The contributors look at the ways in which Latin America's armed forces have changed over time, and how external threats as well as internal rivalries have shaped the military. Together, these essays trace the roots of the military's power and the growth of its political influence.

Dr. Linda A. RodrÌguez has assembled a new collection of essays that finally provides the historical context necessary to understand the Latin American military. The articles included here examine a variety of time periods and nations, from the counterinsurgency army of New Spain, to the nineteenth-century War of the Pacific, to the modern relationship between the military and development. The contributors look at the ways in which Latin America's armed forces have changed over time, and how external threats as well as internal rivalries have shaped the military. Together, these essays trace the roots of the military's power and the growth of its political influence.

Chapter 1 International War and Government Modernization: The Military—A Case Study
Chapter 2
"La Causa Buena": The Counterinsurgency Army of New Spain and the Ten Years' War

Chapter 3 Authoritarianism and Militarism in Ecuador

Chapter 4 The War of the Pacific

Chapter 5 The South American Military Tradition: Preprofessional Armies in Argentina, Chile, Peru, and Brazil

Chapter 6 The Armed Forces and Industrialists in Modern Brazil: The Drive for Military Autonomy, 1889-1945

Chapter 7 Caudillismo and Institutional Change: Manuel Odrìa and the Peruvian Armed Forces, 1948-1956

Chapter 8 The Military and Development

Chapter 9 The Latin American Military, Low-Intensity Conflict, and Democracy

Chapter 10 Military Professionalism and Nonintervention in Mexico