The long road to civilian supremacy over the military: Chile, 1988--1998

The influence of the military in Latin America during the current postauthoritarian era has been a matter of considerable dispute. This dissertation analyzes the case of Chile, focusing primarily on the 1988--1998 period but also demonstrating the importance of long-term historical factors. Military interests must be examined systematically and military reactions to civilian policy initiatives will vary according to the degree of salience the military attaches to the issue in question. The military can utilize either formal or semi-formal points of contact to interact with civilian policy makers, and tend to seek semi-formal contact points when highly salient issues are at stake. Formal contacts are most propitious for civilian supremacy over the military while semi-formal contacts are predominantly detrimental. The Chilean military's ability to pursue semi-formal contacts in order to block civilian policies strongly suggests that civilian supremacy has not been achieved.