A military dictatorship is a form of government in which a member of the military holds authoritarian control. In a junta, power is shared by several military leaders. It may be different from civilian dictatorship in a number of aspects: their motivations for seizing power, the institutions through which they organize their rule, and the ways in which they leave power. Often viewing itself as saving the nation from corrupt or myopic civilian politicians or from civil disorder, a military dictatorship justifies its position as "neutral" arbiters on the basis of their membership within the armed forces. For example, many juntas adopt titles, such as “National Redemption Council", “Committee of National Restoration", or “National Liberation Committee".[1]
The concept of civil military dictatorship was coined to describe the nature of the Uruguayan dictatorship (1973-85) (Spanish: Dictadura cívico-militar).
Historians Gabriel Salazar and Julio Pinto have stressed the hybrid nature of the Chilean military dictatorship (1973-90) and previous and later apparently non-military governments claiming that there is a continuation of civil and military cooperation that excludes the population from meaningful participation in the state affairs calling this a de facto civil-military dictatorship.[2]
