This is a revised and updated edition of Snow's classic study of Argentine politics. The work is a description and analysis of the role played by Argentina's major political actors: the political parties, the armed forces, labor unions, the Catholic Church, and students. Their traditional roles are examined, but emphasis is placed on the part they have played since publication of the last edition of the work in 1979, especially the dramatic transition to democracy beginning in 1983. Snow and his new co-author, Manzetti, are slightly more optimistic than most analysts, and believe that Argentina's major political actors may have finally decided that authoritarian regimes are not to their--nor Argentina's--advantage.

Written primarily as a supplementary text for courses in Latin American politics, this work will be of interest to scholars and students of contemporary Latin America.