Military coups in Latin America as a means of integration to international society: The cases of Chile and Argentina

The Latin American states encountered interruptions of democratic processes by military coups after gaining their independence. Although the social and economic origins of military coups differ for each country, the effects of the military coups that took place in this region after World War II and especially in the 1970s show similarities at least in the cases of Chile and Argentina. These similarities are not seen in the reasons for the occurrance of the coups, but in the structural features and post-coup processes. As a matter of fact, Chile with its democracy tradition and professionalized (withdrawn from the political arena) army and Argentina, where military coups were adopted and normalized even by the people, have different internal characteristics. However, considering the severity and consequences of the 1973 Chilean and 1976 Argentine military coups, while structurally similar, their formation processes differ from each other. Revealing these similarities and differences is the first of the aims that the thesis will try to achieve. For this purpose, the study examines these two military coups in terms of their functions in the integration of the said countries into the international society of the period established by the USA within the framework of the English School. The English School is a theory that distinguishes between the international system and the international society and reveals the effect of norms in this society. The English School theory is explanatory in understanding the international society established under the leadership of the USA after World War II. However, the English School does not include domestic political and structural developments in its analysis. At this point, international relations – domestic policy interaction, which is ignored by the English School, is complemented by Gourevitch's approach. In order to make a holistic evaluation of the coups discussed in this study, the approaches of both the English School and Gourevitch are used together, while explaining the impact of the international community on the coups, international relations/domestic interaction is not neglected.