From Forced Recruitment to Voluntary Enlistment: A History of Military Service in Honduras, 1881-1994
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15517/rr.v107i1.00009Keywords:
Compulsory Military Service, Voluntary Military Service, Biopolitics, Governmental power, Citizen mobilizationAbstract
Introduction: The article addresses the results of research on forced recruitment instituted since the end of the nineteenth century in Honduras, the methods used and the forms of resistance that led to its elimination.
Objective: The objective is to analyze the development of compulsory military service from its implementation by the 1881 regulation until its transformation into voluntary service in 1994.
Method and techniques: The research technique combines the historical method with the theoretical postulates of Michel Foucault's biopolitics.
Results: The study identifies the following elements: (1) Origin of Compulsory Military Service (SMO), (2) Recruitment strategies and forms of resistance, and (3) Proposal for reform and establishment of Voluntary Military Service.
Conclusions: The shift from forced to voluntary recruitment was the product of social discontent with the forms of military control of youth. This metamorphosis was the product of pressure from specific social groups that promoted mobilizations for its elimination.
Keywords: Compulsory Military Service, Voluntary Military Service, Biopolitics, Governmental power, Citizen mobilization.
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