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Politics and Identity in the Argentine Army

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 October 2022

Silvio Waisbord
Silvio Waisbord*
Affiliation:
University of California, San Diego
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Scholars and journalists have devoted considerable attention to analyzing the three military rebellions that rocked Argentine democracy in 1987 and 1988 (Boron 1987; Fontana 1988; López 1988; Stepan 1988). In addition to considering whether these revolts threatened the stability of the new political regime, academic and political interpretations have pointed to another issue stemming from the revolts: the emergence of a new generation of army officers with political goals and ideological values that differ from those prevailing in the upper levels of the Argentine military hierarchy. According to some observers, the experiences of middle-ranking officers during the last authoritarian regime produced a breach within the army that led, in the extreme view, to “two opposing armies.” This argument asserts that the Argentine Army currently appears divided between the high command (“oficiales superiores” made up of colonels and generals) and middle-ranking officers, who encompass “subalternos” (lieutenants and captains) and “jefes” (majors and lieutenant colonels). The split seems to have stemmed from differing political goals and ideological affiliations. The question, however, has remained speculative rather than being subjected to analytical research.

Type
Research Reports and Notes
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 26 , Issue 2 , 1991 , pp. 157 - 170
Copyright
Copyright © 1991 by the University of Texas Press

Footnotes

*

My research in Argentina from July to September of 1988 was funded by a Tinker Foundation grant from the Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies (CILAS) at the University of California, San Diego. I am grateful to them and to the Centro de Estudios del Estado y la Sociedad (CEDES) for its support during my work in Buenos Aires. I also wish to thank Carlos Waisman, León Zamosc, and three anonymous LAR reviewers, whose critical comments I have tried to take into account. A preliminary version was presented to the Rocky Mountain Council on Latin American Studies in Las Cruces, New Mexico, in February 1989.

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