With causes and effects a vicious circle: coups. An review over Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Turkey

When the coups in Latin America countries Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and those in Turkey are analyzed with cause and effect relation, there are many striking similarities in terms of the time periods and reasons the coups stemming from in the historical process. In these countries, the armed forces gained a predominant position within the political system by leading the establishment and modernization of the countries. Thanks to this position, the soldiers have shaped the system according to their own priorities and forced the civilians to move within these boundaries. The coups generally occurred when the armies, in line with their historical patrimonial status, intervened in political system as a result of the crisis or perceived crises, and at any turn they went down in history by leaving serious havoc behind in economic life and state institutions. The conditions during coups period resulted in huge violations of human rights, and these conditions paved a way the subsequent coup and these routine ended up a vicious cycle. In these countries in which there is no nation-state building experience through the bourgeois class, such as Europe, the army is seen as the only institution that can solve any problems faced by nation. With the support of the United States, which is trying to prevent the spread of communism, the soldiers have carried out many coups in these countries during the cold war and established military rules. From 1980s, with ending the post-cold war and accelerating globalization, US interventionism has diminished. Nevertheless, the prerogatives of armies gained during the intervention era constitutes the greatest obstacle in the process of returning to democracy. The aim of this study was to analyze the internal and external structural causes which lay behind the coups in Latin America and Turkey in the historical process, and see if the military autonomy undermines the precise settlement of the democracies in these countries. As a result of the study, it was found out that the coups occurred as result of the structural problems that had been going on since the establishment of these countries, they have influenced negatively not only in political life but also in the socio-economic life of the countries, and even after the countries turned back to democracy, democratic consolidation was delayed owing to the bad habits of coup periods and military autonomy