Managerialism and 4th Generation Wars: an analysis of the military thinking of the Brazilian Army

• DOI: 10.22533/at.ed.5583272303087

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• Keywords: -

• Abstract:

  Military thinking has served as a framework for theorizing and establishing models for questions about Civil-Military Relations. It is assumed that this knowledge has implications for the way military forces are commanded and conceived, which is fundamental for the effectiveness of the military apparatus. In the Brazilian case, a long tradition of military thinking of the Brazilian Army (EB) can be attributed, inspired by the positivist epistemological current. This thought went through several reconfigurations responding to historical contexts, adapting and being reinterpreted the priorities given for its mission. Recently, aspects of 4th Generation Wars and Managerialism (two sides of the same coin) have been observed in the EB's military ideology. This essay proposes to elucidate the permanence of positivist military thinking in the process of military transformation of the Brazilian Army that led to the adherence to Managerialism and the 4th Generation Wars (G4G), two sides of the same coin. The approach will be based on the evidence of doctrinal transformations, composition of military careers and their formative processes. The following topics are chosen as an argumentative script. 1) military thought and its currents; 2) the positivism of the Brazilian Army; 3) Managerialism and G4G in the transformations in the EB. As final considerations, we point out the perenniality of positivist military thought translated today with the double G4G and managerialism.