Background: Authoritarian Rule and the Push for Change
- During the 1970s and early 1980s, much of Latin America was ruled by military dictatorships, which justified their control as protection against communism during the Cold War.
- Regimes in countries like Argentina and Chile used repression, censorship, and human rights violations to maintain power.
- Economic decline, debt crises, and international criticism gradually eroded the legitimacy of these regimes.
- The late 1980s saw a wave of democratization across Latin America, influenced by both internal pressure(citizen protests, unions, Church movements) and external factors (U.S. policy shifts, global economic institutions, and human rights advocacy).
Definition
Authoritarianism
- Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the consolidation of power in a single leader or small group, limited political pluralism, repression of dissent, and little to no accountability to the public.
Argentina’s Transition to Democracy (1983)
- Argentina suffered under a brutal military dictatorship (1976–1983) known for the “Dirty War”, during which thousands of political opponents disappeared.
- The regime’s defeat in the Falklands War (1982) against Britain destroyed its credibility and triggered mass public protests.
- Civil society, human rights groups like the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, and a weakened military paved the way for free elections.
- In 1983, Raúl Alfonsín of the Radical Civic Union (UCR) became president, marking a return to democracy.
- Alfonsín initiated trials for human rights abuses, restored civil liberties, and began rebuilding democratic institutions.
- Economic instability and military unrest remained challenges, but Argentina’s democracy endured.
Definition
Civil society
- Organizations and groups outside government that work to represent citizens’ interests (e.g., unions, churches, NGOs).
Chile’s Transition to Democracy (1990)
- Chile was ruled by General Augusto Pinochet, who seized power in a 1973 coup that overthrew socialist president Salvador Allende.
- Pinochet’s military regime combined political repression with free-market reforms guided by the “Chicago Boys,” which improved growth but deepened inequality.
- By the late 1980s, growing domestic opposition, Church activism, and pressure from Western democracies weakened the regime.
- In 1990, Patricio Aylwin, a moderate Christian Democrat, took office as Chile’s first democratic leader in 17 years.
