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The Scientific Field During Argentina’s Latest Military Dictatorship (1976–1983): Contraction of Public Universities and Expansion of the National Council for Scientific and Technological Research (CONICET)

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Abstract

This study looks at some of the traits that characterized Argentina’s scientific and university policies under the military regime that spanned from 1976 through 1983. To this end, it delves into a rarely explored empirical observation: financial resource transfers from national universities to the National Scientific and Technological Research Council (CONICET, for its Spanish acronym) during that period. The intention is to show how, by reallocating funds geared to Science and Technology, CONICET was made to expand and decentralize to the detriment of universities. This was the primary tool used by the military regime to thwart higher education’s research development, bolstering research efforts at other realms. Thus, CONICET grew in budget, number of researchers, and staff size, creating new research institutes, while national universities struggled with reduced funding and were forced to shut down their institutes and programs. As a result, CONICET virtually concentrated all scientific research, foregoing the knowledge accumulated at universities, which drove a wedge between both institutions. This military approach to science and technology policy-making is discussed, bearing in mind the notion of dependence—both in terms of the state’s intervention in the inner workings of the scientific-university field as well as regarding the role played by international financial support in scientific research development.

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Notes

  1. In Argentina, national or public (state-run) universities encompass most of the undergraduate population, are funded by the federal state, and are tuition-free. Students pay for books, supplies and materials.

  2. This ‘Budget Program’ [Finalidad Ciencia y Técnica] includes ‘all the activities aimed at the acquisition of new knowledge or research into knowledge applications, including research and development, technology transfers, graduate programs for research training, as well as science and technology promotion activities’ (SECYT 1981: 113).

  3. The data included in this chart does not fully match the data included in Figure 1, as both sets come from different sources. However, both reflect the same trend.

  4. This information is based on CONICET’s Informe de Actividades 1976–1982, published in early 1983. In order to validate this data, which could have been biased in order to bolster CONICET’s image at a politically delicate time, two metrics have been selected—namely, number of researchers and number of local scholarship recipients per year. Then, a detailed review of all CONICET Board Resolutions was conducted in order to corroborate the data. This procedure showed that the overall figures published CONICET were accurate, as they matched actual facts.

  5. As per CONICET’s Resolution Nbr. 217, dated November 25, 1976.

  6. In addition, CONICET also took other decentralizing steps, including a 42-percent salary bonus for researchers willing to settle down outside the metropolitan area, coverage of moving expenses, and rental payments for up to 36 months (CONICET 1978: 21).

  7. CONICET’s resolutions issued in 1976–1983 were reviewed one by one to isolate those dealing with grants. According to our review, CONICET awarded 9,982 grants during this period.

  8. This is a brief account of a more profound analysis on Argentina’s scientific field during the military regime made by the author for her doctoral thesis, La estructura del campo científico argentino: reconfiguraciones, desplazamientos y transferencias producidas durante la última dictadura militar. For her thesis, the author used a complex methodological tool called Multiple Correspondence Analysis to relate multiple variables associated with both institutes and heads. Some partial conclusions have been published in: Bekerman, Fabiana. 2013. Science during Argentina’s military dictatorship (1976–1983): The contraction of the higher education system and the expansion of CONICET. In The politics of academic autonomy in Latin America, ed. Beigel, Fernanda, pp. 227–247. ISBN 978-1-4094-3186-2. London: Ashgate.

  9. This budget recovery unfolded during the so-called “normalisation” period. By then, the “disciplinary purge” had taken place; faculty members had been replaced; academic curricula and study plans had been revised; academic enrolment had already decreased, and a new Organic Law of Universities had been passed (Act Nbr. 22.207).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Human Sciences, Social and Environmental (INCIHUSA), National Council for Scientific and Technological Research (CONICET), Mendoza, Argentina

    Fabiana Bekerman

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  1. Fabiana Bekerman
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Correspondence to Fabiana Bekerman.

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Bekerman, F. The Scientific Field During Argentina’s Latest Military Dictatorship (1976–1983): Contraction of Public Universities and Expansion of the National Council for Scientific and Technological Research (CONICET). Minerva 51, 253–269 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11024-013-9227-9

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