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Military dictatorship

A military dictatorship, or a military regime, is a type of dictatorship in which power is held by one or more military officers. Military dictatorships are led by either a single military dictator, known as a strongman, or by a council of military officers known as a military junta. They are most often formed by military coups or by the empowerment of the military through a popular uprising in times of domestic unrest or instability. The military nominally seeks power to restore order or fight corruption, but the personal motivations of military officers will vary.

The balance of power in a military dictatorship depends on the dictator's ability to maintain the approval of the military through concessions and appeasement while using force to repress opposition. Military strongmen may seek to consolidate power independently of the military, effectively creating personalist dictatorships. Military dictators are under constant threat of removal by their fellow military officers, and counter-coups are common against military regimes that fail to maintain support. Politicization of the military can also cause factionalism, and the military is often willing to give up power voluntarily rather than have the military destabilized. Military dictatorships are less involved in political affairs than other regimes, with their policy mainly directed toward benefiting the military as an institution. Military rule is maintained by force more so than in other regimes, though military dictators often create separate security forces to maintain political control independently from the military.


Early military dictatorships existed in post-classical Asia, including in Korea and Japan. Modern military dictatorship developed in Latin America during the 19th century, and it expanded in Europe during the early-20th century. It saw a resurgence during the Cold War, and new military dictatorships were established in Africa, Asia, and Latin America in the 1960s. The number of military dictatorships then declined over the next two decades, and most of them dissolved at the end of the Cold War. Few military dictatorships exist in the 21st century, and they are nonexistent outside of Africa and Southeast Asia.

Stability[edit]

Duration[edit]

The duration and stability of military dictatorships vary considerably, even within a single region,[25] and military dictatorships are generally less stable than other regimes. The average military dictatorship lasts only five years,[26] and the average military dictator is only in power for three years.[27] Military dictatorships struggle to build civilian bases of support through mass political participation or a partisan apparatus, which limits the ability for a regime to establish a stable long-term government.[28][19] When military dictators are toppled, they are often succeeded by further military coups and new military dictators seizing power within the same regime.[29] The most immediate threats to military dictators are the military officers that they depend on, making long term stability difficult.[30]


Individual military dictators become more secure as they spend more time in office, as they are able to shift power away from military institutions by creating civilian and paramilitary forces to keep them in check. Dictators that do not create these institutions are removed more quickly.[31] Highly professional militaries with coherence and discipline benefit from sharing power between military officers, while less professional militaries often find it necessary to build support among the civilian government.[32] Less professional militaries are less stable, meaning they are more prone to corruption and factionalism.[33]

Civil–military relations

Films depicting Latin American military dictatorships

Military democracy

Military rule (disambiguation)

Stratocracy

Warlord

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