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288 Historia y ciencias sociales: América Latina
su percepción de que las instituciones eran No falta tampoco en este libro el aná-
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controladas por gobernantes corruptos, su lisis de la personalidad y el estilo político
s retórica agresiva y su defensa expresa del de los diferentes líderes que impusieron su
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Historia y ciencias sociales: América Latina 289
te en torno a Hipólito Yrigoyen sería dife- is an attempt, as Thiery states in the intro-
rente de la de los primeros tiempos, tanto duction, to trace the institutional changes
en el estilo político de la conducción which Chile experienced during the mili-
como en su composición social, pero ape- tary dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet
laría a sus símbolos, presentándose como (September 1973 - March 1990), the first
su legítima heredera. post-authoritarian government of Patricio
Finalmente, cabe decir que esta inves- Aylwin (March 1 990 - March 1 994), and
tigación se inscribe en una importante the first three years of his successor's ad-
serie de trabajos surgidos a partir de la ministration, Eduardo Frei (March 1 994 -
renovación de la historia política argenti- March 2000), and to assess their impact
na que se iniciara hace ya dos décadas con on the economic, social, and political de-
el retorno del país a la democracia. A esa velopment of the country. In accordance
renovación contribuyó especialmente la with the theoretical foundations of his
apertura de una nueva generación de his- work, two fundamental theses form the
toriadores a las categorías de la ciencia basis of Thiery's analysis. Firstly, he
política por un lado y a los desafíos más argues that institutions determine the de-
recientes provenientes de la antropología velopment of societies; they provide, in
y la lingüística por el otro. El mérito prin- other words, the key to the understanding
cipal del libro aquí reseñado consiste of economic, social, and political changes
precisamente en haber sabido atender tan- over time. Secondly, he identifies the state
to al impacto de los aspectos contextúales as the decisive protagonist, albeit not the
e ideológicos como al del comportamiento only one, in the formation and the pro-
de los actores políticos en la arena par- tection of these institutional arrange-
lamentaria y fuera de ella para evaluar las ments.
prácticas adoptadas originariamente por la In the first chapter, Thiery, inter alia,
UCR, arrojando así nueva luz sobre la expounds his concepts of state and ins-
dinámica general de la política argentina titutions, discusses the societal function of
de esa época y sobre un tema hasta ahora the latter, lays down the preconditions that
muy poco estudiado: el rol de la oposi- guarantee their efficiency and effective-
ción. ness, and identifies the factors that lead to
their establishment, destruction, and
Sandra Carreras reform. He also formulates five theses that
serve as points of reference of his analy-
sis. Although such an approach might be
appropriate for a dissertation, it seems rat-
Peter Thiery: Transformation in Chile. her odd that he retains it in his book. Two
Institutioneller Wandel, Entwicklung empirical chapters follow the theoretical
und Demokratie 1973-1996. Frank- part of the book. The first one deals with ro
furt/M: Vervuert (Schriftenreihe des the Pinochet years, and the second one, O
O
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Instituts für Iberoamerika-Kunde, 52) considerably longer than the first one des- 0
2000. 349 páginas. pite the fact that it covers only six years,
looks at the democratic state. Both chap- a
s:
Peter Thiery's book, originally sub- ters have the same, clearly organised 1
mitted as his doctoral thesis at the Univer- structure, making comparisons between E
S
sity of Mainz in 1998, is an example of the two periods relatively easy. Following
the renewed interest in institutionalism. It brief historical introductions and summa- 1
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