Español SOCIEDAD, GUERRA DE MALVINAS Y “TRANSICIÓN DEMOCRÁTICA”: LO POLÍTICO Y LA POLÍTICA EN NEUQUÉN (ARGENTINA) DURANTE EL CONFLICTO BÉLICO

Abstract

The research aims to rethink a very widespread and crystallized image, which has permeated even Argentine historiography: the one that conceives the Malvinas war as a moment of total exceptionality in the relations between civil society and the last military dictatorship. This interpretation focuses on the multiple demonstrations of support for the landing on the islands by various social actors, which has produced a total and seamless reunion between society and the regime. From this vision, the Malvinas war appears as a disruptive moment, which differs from the increase in protests before the war and the social explosion after the defeat. The Malvinas war, then, appears dissociated from the “democratic transition”.

The paper attempts to reintegrate the Malvinas war into its context and think about the continuities and ruptures of the war moment with the pre- and post-war period, specifically with regard to the political dimension. Specifically, it addresses this problem in -and from- Neuquén (a city in North Patagonia, Argentina), focusing on the political and public actions carried out by the members of the majority parties during the war: the party leaders and the young militants of the Movimiento Popular Neuquino, the Unión Cívica Radical and the Movimiento Nacional Justicialista. The sources on which it is based are mainly the regional press, and, secondly, oral testimonies and documents from the organizations.