junta

The military rulers of a country, especially after an army takeover, as in Turkey in 1980. Earlier examples include Argentina, under Juan Perón and his successors; Chile, under Augusto Pinochet; Paraguay, under Alfredo Stroessner; Peru, under Manuel Odría; and Uruguay, under Juan Bordaberry. More recently, Myanmar has been ruled since 1988 by the military State Law and Order Restoration Council, and in Thailand a military junta seized power in September 2006 after months of political limbo following a contentious general election. Juntas rarely remain collective bodies, eventually becoming dominated by one member.

The Spanish word designates a legislative or other assembly which meets either for political purposes or for the passing of laws. In 1808 a junta was elected to undertake the defence of Spain against Napoleon. In English the word is used as a term of contempt for a legislative party, for example the Whig Junta in the reigns of William III and Queen Anne. It is also used nowadays to denote a power group, governing a country, having usually achieved power by revolutionary means. Such power groups are usually associated with military regimes.