A dictatorship without center: History and political science in the interpretation of the Proceso de Reorganización Nacional

Abstract

Historiographical consensus about the last military dictatorship (...) contends the regime was marked by the fragmentation of political power and the problems it generated. The recent declassification of the complete archives of the Legislative Advisory Commission (CAL) has expanded sources and facilitated access to data on the everyday operation of an organization crucial for decision-making processes. (...) Data shows that fragmentation was the norm, and extended beyond the main decision-making arenas and the most notorious policies, that the dictatorship could never constitute a political center, and that therefore numerous policy initiatives were amended or rejected by competing factions and shaped by the influence of various private economic interests.