The sesquicentennial celebration of Argentina’s independence was the occasion for publishing this volume on the development of the Argentine constitutional system. Yet ironically the author must note in a concluding chapter that the revolution of June 23, 1966, again breaks the pattern of orderly national political development.
Most of this work is devoted to a factual relation of the attempts to establish an acceptable constitution for the Río de la Plata area before Bartolomé Mitre’s victory over the Argentine Confederation in 1861. The author states that his volume has as its aim to select and present materials from well-known works on Argentine political development, while making no pretense at original contributions to that subject. He utilizes the findings of recent research, however, including the 1966 study of Guillermo Furlong, which presents rediscovered documents concerning the public sessions of the Congress of Tucumán.
In his account of the development of Argentine political institutions, Abad de Santillán contributes a minimum of interpretation to the facts presented. In the selection and arrangement of his materials concerning the recurring controversy between the centralists and federalists, however, the author displays his sympathy for the aspirations of the latter.
The reader might wish for more comments on Argentine constitutional confusion since the fall of Perón, but he must be satisfied with the author’s fervidly expressed hope for the future. To him the institutional development of Argentina, indeed of all nations, must evolve toward a one-world-or-none concept when “el derecho internacional presente quedará reducido a una forma de derecho civil” (p. 589). This conclusion might be interpreted by some readers as a means used by the author to express his discontent with the current political developments in his nation.
Although this volume fails to present a systematic analysis of its subject, it will be very useful as a reference for its information concerning the pacts, accords, and constitutions of Argentina. Within the limitations of its noninterpretative framework it is well written and well organized.