Constitutionalism and Dictatorship: Pinochet, the Junta, and the 1980 Constitution

Robert Barros

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511606298

It is widely believed that autocratic regimes cannot limit their power through institutions of their own making. This book presents a surprising challenge to this view. It demonstrates that the Chilean armed forces were constrained by institutions of their own design. Based on extensive documentation of military decision-making, much of it long classified and unavailable, this book reconstructs the politics of institutions within the recent Chilean dictatorship (1973–1990). It examines the structuring of institutions at the apex of the military junta, the relationship of military rule with the prior constitution, the intra-military conflicts that led to the promulgation of the 1980 constitution, the logic of institutions contained in the new constitution, and how the constitution constrained the military junta after it went into force in 1981. This provocative account reveals the standard account of the dictatorship as a personalist regime with power concentrated in Pinochet to be grossly inaccurate.

' … interesting and well-written … The book is highly recommendable. His work significantly advances our knowledge of a decisive period in Chile's most recent history. He corrects generally held interpretations of the dictatorship …'.

Source: Iberoamericana

'… an important contribution to debates about what happened in Chile under Pinochet, and raises new issues about the nature of absolute power … Barros has written a radical and bold reappraisal of established positions on the Pinochet regime … This book will be of great value to students who wish to understand more about the Chilean dictatorship but also as an introduction to theories of power and authoritarianism.'

Source: Latin American Review of Books

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Constitutionalism and Dictatorship

Pinochet, the Junta, and the 1980 Constitution

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Contents

Frontmatter
pp i-vi

Contents
pp vii-x

Foreword
pp xi-xiv

Acknowledgments
pp xv-xvi

Abbreviations
pp xvii-xviii

Introduction
pp 1-9

1 - Dictatorship, Legality, and Institutional Constraints
pp 10-35

2 - The Constitution of the Exception: Defining the Rules of Military Rule
pp 36-83

3 - The Constitution and the Dictatorship: The Supreme Court and the Constitutionality of Decree-Laws
pp 84-116

4 - The Shadowy Boundary between Force and Law: The Judiciary, Repression, and the Cosmetic Limitation of Emergency Powers
pp 117-166

5 - Constitutionalization without Transition: Prompting the Dual Constitution of 1980
pp 167-216

6 - The Permanent Text: Constitutional Controls or Military Tutelage?
pp 217-254

7 - Even Custom Shoes Bind: Military Rule under the Constitution, 1981–1988
pp 255-307

8 - Military Dictatorship and Constitutionalism in Chile
pp 308-326

References
pp 327-340

Index
pp 341-349

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Constitutionalism and Dictatorship

Pinochet, the Junta, and the 1980 Constitution

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