A military dictatorship curtails freedom and imposes censorship.
A military dictatorship is the government exercised by the armed forces without respect for the legal order or the law . The leader of this regime is known as a dictator and, generally, he has the characteristic of being an extremely charismatic person or of a certain presence that makes everyone revere him or, failing that, at least respect or fear him.
Some phrases where the concept appears are: “The bloody military dictatorship of the African country left thousands of dead,” “Those responsible for the Argentine military dictatorship are being tried,” “The population has to defend democracy in the streets to prevent it from returning.” “a military dictatorship takes power.”
Concept of military dictatorship
The government exercised without opposition, legal system or legislation is called a dictatorship . The term, which comes from the Latin dictatūra , also serves to refer to the length of time this type of mandate lasts and to the country that is governed under this type of government.
Military , for its part, is that belonging to or related to war or the military . Members, institutions and facilities belonging to the armed forces may also be called this.
The most common way in which a group of people manages to take control of a State is through a revolt in which they overthrow the current democratic government and put themselves, or the leader they have chosen , in its place.
Generally these revolts are led by military groups ; That is why they usually achieve their goals, not finding a force as powerful as them capable of stopping them. In some cases paramilitary groups emerge that achieve a certain weapons organization and confront the military; But even then it is not possible to end the revolt and rebuild peace in the country.
Thus, using military force , the former manage not only to carry out the coup d'état but also to remain in power: the use of weapons is the main support of a dictatorship of this type. Through the repression of opponents, torture and the imposition of terror to prevent dissent, the military dictatorship manages to control the streets and set its rules beyond any legal or constitutional limits.
In Argentina, the military dictatorship that lasted between 1976 and 1983 created clandestine detention centers where prisoners were tortured and in many cases murdered.
Respect for the Constitution
It is important to clarify that a military dictatorship does not always take control of the situation in a place after a coup d'état . Many times, it does so through legal or democratic means (with some civilian winning elections and then leading their government into a dictatorial form with the armed forces in control).
In the case of legal dictatorships , also called constitutional ones , the government slowly acquires its place of authority, undermining the freedoms of the people very little by little. In some cases, he even gets them to believe his lies and bet on this type of organization, believing that it is the best way to move forward as a country.
These types of dictatorships tend to be more dangerous than those won by force because it is very likely that the people will be in their favor and approve things that will later end up being totally disastrous for the citizens. Furthermore, these governments appropriate the Legislative, Executive and Judicial powers, and manage to change laws of the constitution to put it in their favor and thus approve any atrocity that helps them achieve more power and dominate the people more rigorously.
But although this may be somewhat legal , it is evident that it is a fraud against the rule of law and, generally, sooner or later things turn around; This occurs when part of the people, opposed to the government, gets to work and leads a revolution that ends up ousting the dictator.