ABSTRACT
Before undertaking an analysis of Argentina's transition to democracy, the meanings and ideas embodied by the term "democracy" must be set forth. The very powerful emotive significance of the term makes evident that democracy is an instrument that makes human self-actualization possible. In Argentina's experience, "transition to democracy" has been equivalent to the establishment of a regime that will neither self-destruct nor incite or invite its own destruction through a coup d'état by revealing deficiencies that render it vulnerable. Argentina's coup d'état abolished, from 1955 onward, the existing power structure and mandated that all public officials, including the judges, follow the military's code. The only exception was the interregnum of 1962-1963 during which a legitimate judicial branch survived despite the dismantling of the other two branches of government. Indeed, although the transition to democracy is a long and arduous road, Argentina will, no doubt, succeed in reaching this goal.
