Human Rights and Democratization in Latin America: Uruguay and Chile (Oxford Studies in Democratization)

This study analyzes the attempts by Chile and Uruguay to resolve the human rights violations conflicts inherited from military dictatorships. Alexandra de Brito sheds light on the political conditions which permitted—or prevented—the policies of truth-telling and justice under these successor regimes. She is the first to make comparative assessment of human rights abuse in Uruguay and Chile in this way and makes an original contribution to our understanding of the key political, legal, and moral issues involved. Table of Contents Abbreviations Introduction Part I. Problems of Transitional Truth and Justice in Comparative Perspective and Human Rights Violations under Military Rule in Uruguay and Chile 1. Confronting Legacies of State Repression: Uruguay and Chile in Comparative Perspective 2. The Dynamic of Military Repression in Uruguay and Chile: Ideology and Resistance to Truth and Justice Part II. Truth and Justice in Transition 3. Negotiating Truth and Justice in the Transition to Democracy in Uruguay, 1980–1985 4. Truth and Justice in the Transitional Period in Chile, 1988–1990 Part III. Truth and Justice under Successor Democratic Regimes 5. The Long and Tortuous Path to Military Amnesty and the Referendum in Uruguay, 1985–1989 6. Negotiating Truth, Justice, and Pardons under the Concertación Governments of Aylwin 1990–1993 and Frei 1993– Part IV. Assessing Truth and Justice in Uruguay and Chile: The Road to Democratic Consolidation? 7. Assessing Truth and Justice Policies in Uruguay and Chile Conclusions Notes References Index A B C D E F G H I J L M N O P R S T U V W Y Z This insightful new work analyses the attempts by Chile and Uruguay to resolve the human rights violations conflicts inherited from military dictatorships. The author focuses on how the post-transitional democratic governments dealt with demmands for official recognition of the truth about the human rights violations committed by the military regimes and for punishment of those guilty of committing or ordering those offences. Alexandra DeBrito sheds light on the political conditions which permitted - or prevented - the politics of truth-telling and justice under these successor regimes. This is the first study to make comparative assessment of human rights abuse in Uruguay and Chile in this way. The author contends that the experiences of these countries offer formative examples of attempts to tackle fundamental aspects of the policies of transition and democratization. She makes an original contribution to our understanding of the key political, legal, and moral issues involved. Alexandra de Brito's insightful new study analyses the attempts by Chile and Uruguay to resolve the human rights violations conflicts inherited from military dictatorships. The author focuses on how post-transitional democratic governments handled demands for official recognition of the truth about these violations, and for punishment of those guilty of committing or ordering them. Alexandra de Brito sheds light on the political conditions which permitted, or prevented, the policies of truth-telling and justice under these successor regimes. This is the first study to make comparative assessment of human rights abuse in Uruguay and Chile in this way. The author contends that these countries' experiences offer formative examples of attempts to tackle fundamental aspects of the policies of transition and democratization. This powerful and compelling new study makes an original contribution to our understanding of the key political, legal, and moral issues involved. This title analyzes the attempts by Chile and Uruguay to resolve the human rights violations conflicts inherited from military dictatorships. It is part of a series which concentrates on the study of the democratization processes that accompanied the decline and termination of the Cold War