No account of the rocky transition to democracy can fail to address the role and responsibility of the national security services in the prior regime. Until now, most academic attention turned to the demands of human rights and transitional justice. This volume fills a critical void by examining how the military and police infrastructures were handled by the nascent democracies. From the defeated military of Argentina, to the commanding regimes of Chile and Spain, and through traditional autocratic countries, each democracy had to walk a fine line between confrontation and capitulation. Domesticating the repressive fist of autocracy proves a complex and compelling subject of study. An important addition to the literature on stabilizing new democracies.
Zoltan Barany is Frank C. Erwin, Jr., Centennial Professor, Department of Government at the University of Texas at Austin.
Sumit Bisarya is Head of Constitution Building and Head of Mission at the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA).
Sujit Choudhry is Director of the Center for Constitutional Transitions; Guest Researcher, Centre for Global Constitutionalism, WZB Berlin Social Science Centre; and Constitutional Advisor, International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA).
Richard Stacey is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Toronto.