Another Turn of the Screw: Alfonsín and his Defense Policy

Abstract

The defense policy of President Raúl Alfonsín (1983-1989) is often analyzed in the light of the carapintada uprisings and the judgment of the military government of the last dictatorship (1976-1983). Such an approach blurs the understanding of radical defense policy for two reasons: a) the analysis of the resolution or not of the effective civilian control of the armed forces predominates; b) it tends to be studied decisions made by the radical government without considering the motivations of political and social actors involved and the context in which they took decisions regarding the armed forces. Based on the above, this paper seeks, from the analytical framework of public policy, to study the defense policy on its strategic dimension, considering mainly the decision-making framework in which it occurred.