Dictatorship, democracy and corruption in Chile

Crime, Law and Social Change

Volumn 25, Issue 4, 1996, Pages 371-382

  Pollack, Benny ^a   Matear, Ann ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL   (United Kingdom)

^b UNIVERSITY OF PORTSMOUTH   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 21444443870     PISSN: 09254994     EISSN: 15730751     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/BF00572516     Document Type: Article

References (5)

1. Those persons of Spanish descent born and raised in Latin America.
2. The Contraloría General de la República (National Comptroller's Office) is the State institution responsible for governmental probity. Its main function is to sanction the legality of all laws and decrees emanating from State's bodies. Its neutrality is guaranteed by the Constitution, and the tradition of honesty of its personnel (mainly lawyers and administrative experts) has created not a few problems to governments acting outside legality. The military government of Auguste Pinochet was no exception, as a series of conflicts between the State and the Contraloría confirmed. However, the Chilean legal tradition, which is strongly positivist, helped to create an "understanding" between the Contraloría and the non-elected governments of the 1930s and 1970s: a firm stronghold over the political system and the territory by a given government was generally accepted by the Contraloría as proof of "legitimacy".
3. Much of the information in this section comes from interviews conducted with politicians and journalists in Chile who have stated a preference to remain as anonymous sources.
4. Ignacion Walker, La Elite Chilena, CIEPLAN, Santiago, 1988.
5. "El Mercurio", 4.5.94.