ABSTRACT
The high and increasing level of unity and differentiation has undoubtedly facilitated effective military intervention in politics and has helped the military to maintain a long-term political role, but it may also reduce the chance of achieving political stability in the narrow sense. Before going on to discuss this point in more detail, it is worth briefly outlining the way in which the military institution has evolved throughout South America. The military also took power in Argentina in 1930 and did not fully relinquish it until the inauguration of Alfonsin in late 1983. The dilemmas which faced military rulers under these circumstances were well analysed by Huntington. The “subversion” which the military elite was trained to fear duly made its appearance in the 1960s. The success of the Cuban Revolution rather went to the head of various Left-wing organisations throughout South America which, with the support of Cuba itself, sought to overthrow their own governments by direct insurrectionary methods.
