From 1976 to 1983, Argentina was governed by a series of military juntas that seized power amid political and economic upheaval, overthrowing the democratically elected government. During this period, the regime waged a “Dirty War” against perceived subversives, employing forced disappearances, torture, and extrajudicial killings to maintain control. While democratic elections resumed in 1983, questions surrounding accountability for abuses and the fate of the disappeared remained prevalent in the Argentine conscience. This thesis examines the legacy of the Dirty War through the lens of transitional justice, defined as the processes by which societies respond to human rights abuses. It asks: how did pressures from key actors—the executive, military, judiciary, and civil society—shape the trajectory of transitional justice between accountability and impunity in the decades after the Dirty War? Drawing on existing scholarship and comparative analysis of three presidential administrations, this study argues that transitional justice in Argentina was not a linear process, but a contingent and negotiated one, shaped by shifting actor dynamics and institutional constraints.
Elsa Mitchell (Thu,) studied this question.