ABSTRACT
Social legislation before the dictatorship was actually very advanced, as an enlightened ruling class and particularly combative political elite, aided by the economic bonus of two world wars, had developed an anticipatory style of government that contributed to a great extent to the stability of the political system. The way Uruguayan women fought the military dictatorship poses unusual problems for a political scientist because their resistance lacked even the consciousness of being resistant. In the framework of a world recession, with a state forced for economic and ideological reasons to pull back from its role as arbiter and regulator, Sandra Dodero's position may well herald the form and content of future social and political conflicts in Uruguay. Conservatism meant projecting, recuperating, and continuing with the flow of reform toward the horizon of infinite progress that had marked Uruguayan history in the twentieth century.
