Uruguay in Transition: From Civilian to Military Rule

Edy Kaufman

Transaction Publishers - 126 Seiten

Until the early 1970s Uruguay held a worldwide reputation as a democratic island in Latin Amer­ica, maintaining a collective exec­utive system that acquired for it the nickname of the "Switzerland of South America." The constitu­tional tradition was emphasized by a nonpersonalist and non-authoritarian executive, political stability, a high standard of living, and an advanced educational and cultural level.

The military has shattered this established tradition. Over a two-year period its growing involve­ment in politics ended with abso­lute control over the executive.

The aim of this work is to ana­lyze this transformation and con­sider the major variables that have affected political developments in Uruguay. Internal factors are the respective influences wielded by the United States plus Uruguay's two most powerful neighbors, Ar­gentina and Brazil, as well as polit­ical trends in the Latin American subsystem. Among the external in­fluences are competing elites (the traditional political parties and the left-wing front), interest groups (universities, trade unions, the church, dominant economic sec­tors, and the mass media), and the urban guerrilla movement (the Tupamaros).Kaufman analyzes these factors within the context of the Uruguay­an economic and political struc­ture, and shows their significance through their effects on the per­ception of the military elite.

In addition, he attempts to de­termine whether the army's deci­sion to assume absolute power was strategic or a cumulative result of tactical decisions. Finally, he utilizes the accumulated data to test various hypotheses related to military intervention as an inde­pendent variable.

Inhalt

• 1 Methodological Outline: 1
• External Setting: 7
• THE UNITED STATES: 9
• THE LATIN AMERICAN SUBSYSTEM: 12
• ARGENTINA AND BRAZIL: 15
• Internal Setting: 21
• THE ECONOMIC SITUATION: 23
• COMPETING ELITES: 26
• THE TUPAMAROS AND COMPETING MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS: 34
• INTEREST GROUPS: 38
• The Army Generals: 55
• COMMUNICATION: 60
• ATTITUDINAL PRISM AND ELITE IMAGES: 62
• IMPLEMENTATION AND FEEDBACK: 67
• The Military in Power: 73
• INTERNAL SETTING: 77
• EXTERNAL SETTING: 82
• PSYCHOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT: 87
• 6 Testing Hypotheses: 93
• EXTERNAL SETTING: 97
• 7 Concluding Remarks: 103
• Sequence of Events: 109
• Bibliography: 119
• Index: 125

Bibliografische Informationen

• Titel: Uruguay in Transition: From Civilian to Military Rule; Political science/Latin America
• Autor/in: Edy Kaufman
• Verlag: Transaction Publishers
• ISBN: 1412840848, 9781412840842
• Länge: 126 Seiten