The question of defense: reflections on the militia in nineteenth century Latin America

FLAVIA MACÍAS

Revista Universitaria de Historia Militar

Revista Universitaria de Historia Militar (RUHM)

Lugar: Rosario-Paris; Año: 2023 vol. 12 p. 137 - 166

The purpose of this essay is to discuss the issue of defense in 19th century Latin America through the militia organization and its critical role in the republic building. First, I re-examine the militia’s pathway from colonial to republican institution, considering not only the impact of the war but also the political practices developed in the process of revolution and independence. What made the colonial militias both crucial for defense in these newly independent polities and, at the same time, vital in the exercise of popular sovereignty? Second, I revisit the national version of the militia, the National Guard in the frame of the nation-state construction. I discuss its role in the framework of the mixed defensive system, paying attention to the modes of organization and the distribution of military power that this institution embodied; I consider its often tense coexistence with the standing army and ask, in the framework of these new nation-states, what debates, and solutions did the National Guard represent, in defensive, military and political terms? Finally, building off of recent historiography, I re-examine the relationship between politics and violence through the principle of the “citizenry in arms,” a concept embodied in the militia tradition and institutionalized through the National Guard. Although historiography has made significant progress in its understanding of the “citizenry in arms” principle -and its impact on both the republican construction and political practices-, key questions remain regarding how the exercise of the “right to bear arms” was shared with-or disputed- by members of the standing army : How did republican institutions react to the participation of professional soldiers in revolutions and armed uprisings? How might we understand the tension between a so-called “crime of sedition” and the instituted ”right and obligation” of citizens to take up arms in defense of the nation? I will examine these questions at the end of the nineteenth century, a time when the issue of defending the republic was reactivated in several cases. This time, however, disputes were far more closely associated with balances and resolutions derived from experiences with the armed forces in the internal and external defense over the course of the century. At play was a confrontation between current and new visions of the “political order” and the role of both “citizens in arms” and professional soldiers.