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Democratic Consolidation and Military Professionalism: Argentina in the 1980s*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Deborah L. Norden
Deborah L. Norden*
Affiliation:
University of California-Berkeley
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Extract

The 1980s Witnessed a series of halting, tenuous but, nonetheless, widely—hailed transitions from military regimes to constitutional democracies throughout South America. Yet, despite the initial optimism, the political newcomers faced formidable tasks. Not only had memories of democratic rule and practices grown dim in the years of disuse, but, with few exceptions, new governments found themselves threatened by a deteriorating economy with bleak prospects for the future. Equally — perhaps even more — threatening was the fact that though the military regimes may have relinquished their position, they had not necessarily relinquished their power, which raised the possibility that their civilian successors might not be able to stay in office long enough to confront their multifarious problems.

In Argentina, the risk of a return to military rule was perhaps even greater than in some of its neighbors as the country had experienced a mosaic of alternating military and civilian governments ever since 1930.

Type
The Argentine Right
Information
Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs , Volume 32 , Issue 3 , Fall 1990 , pp. 151 - 176
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 1990

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Footnotes

*

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the XV International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association, Miami (FL), 5-7 December 1989. The author would like to thank Felipe Aguero, David Collier, Luigi Manzetti, and Mina Silberberg for their comments and suggestions. Much of the information in this paper derives from a series of interviews conducted by the author with Argentine military officers, both retired and on active duty, between September 1988 and August 1989.

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