It is widely believed that autocratic regimes cannot limit their power through institutions of their own making. This book presents a surprising challenge to this view. It demonstrates that the Chilean armed forces were constrained by institutions of their own design. Based on extensive documentation of military decision-making, much of it long classified and unavailable, this book reconstructs the politics of institutions within the recent Chilean dictatorship (1973–1990). It examines the structuring of institutions at the apex of the military junta, the relationship of military rule with the prior constitution, the intra-military conflicts that led to the promulgation of the 1980 constitution, the logic of institutions contained in the new constitution, and how the constitution constrained the military junta after it went into force in 1981. This provocative account reveals the standard account of the dictatorship as a personalist regime with power concentrated in Pinochet to be grossly inaccurate.

Comparative Law for Spanish–English Speaking Lawyers provides practitioners and students of law, in a variety of English- and Spanish- speaking countries, with the information and skills needed to successfully undertake competent comparative legal research and communicate with local counsel and clients in a second language. Written with the purpose of helping lawyers develop the practical skills essential for success in today’s increasingly international legal market, this book aims to arm its readers with the tools needed to translate unfamiliar legal terms and contextualize the legal concepts and practices used in foreign legal systems. Comparative Law for Spanish–English Speaking Lawyers / Derecho comparado para abogados anglo- e hispanoparlantes, escrita en inglés y español, persigue potenciar las habilidades lingüísticas y los conocimientos de derecho comparado de sus lectores. Con este propósito, términos y conceptos jurídicos esenciales son explicados al hilo del análisis riguroso y transversal de selectas jurisdicciones hispano- y angloparlantes. El libro pretende con ello que abogados, estudiantes de derecho y traductores puedan trabajar en una segunda lengua con solvencia y consciencia de las diferencias jurídicas y culturales que afectan a las relaciones con abogados y clientes extranjeros. La obra se complementa con ejercicios individuales y en grupo que permiten a los lectores reflexionar sobre estas divergencias.