Leyes de prescindibilidad (i.e. laws of expendability) in cities and local governments of the province of Santa Fe during the last dictatorship (1976-1983). A case analysis: Precedents and implementations peculiarities

Abstract

This article analyzes the applications of the Leyes de prescindibilidad (i.e. laws of expendability) in the cities and local governments of the province of Santa Fe during the beginning of the last dictatorship (1976-1983). This study focuses on the complex articulations
between the prescriptive national/provincial level and the concrete implementation at the governmental agencies. The reason of selecting this focus resides in a necessity of interpreting the capillarity of the policies and measures taken by the military regime to regulate and control the state mechanisms, employees, civil servants and economic and political resources management. The text inscribes the development of laws of expendability of government employees in a legislation and previous practices continuum. It also reconstructs the precedents in the period including the two last dictatorships (1966-1983). Then, after a case analysis, it examines the implementation of this legal tool during the last dictatorship. In this regard, the article invites their readers to
focus on the bureaucratic administrative practices and the law and regulations utilization/implementation in the context of a predominantly repressive political regime.