Religious Beliefs and Actors in the Legitimation of Military Dictatorships in the Southern Cone,1964–1989

Abstract

The military regimes of 1964–1989 in Chile, Argentina, and Brazil implemented a code of legitimacy that appealed to various secular beliefs rooted in civil society at the same time that they fostered a common myth of religious legitimation—that of defending “Western Christian civilization.” It was under this umbrella that military groups and religious actors faced each other and/or established alliances. In this cultural politics, religious actors that had previously been excluded from the power game sought to support and/or be recognized by the state as allies in the construction of a belief in the legitimacy of the dictatorships.