ABSTRACT
The military in Guyana has a preeminent role in the transformation and decolonization of the society. Military organizations are being treated by the incumbent People's National Congress (PNC) regime as an institutional panacea for problems of ethnic conflicts, mobilization, control, and development within the society. Their importance lies as much in supporting this authoritarian system of indigenous rule as in spearheading efforts aimed at nation-building and the "revolution" toward the creation of a new society. As an integral coercive arm of the postcolonial state system, the police must be seen as part of the total military defense forces. A volunteer military force was formed in 1948 and was succeeded in 1964 by the Special Service Unit (SSU), which in turn was replaced in 1965 by the People's Army, The Guyana Defence Force (GDF) which took over dominance from the police.
