Crime and (No) Punishment: Business Corporations and Dictatorships

This introductory chapter puts the volume’s contributions in dialogue with three academic fields. First, we show how the historiography of Latin American authoritarian regimes and the corporate sector benefits from debates on the role of big business in Nazi Germany. At the same time, we point out important differences to avoid inaccurate generalizations about such relationships. Second, we discuss the contributions to the dominant interpretations among scholars on Latin American history on the relationship between large corporations and authoritarian regimes, particularly focusing on the dependency and neo-institutional approaches. Lastly, we put the volume in the context of recent findings in labor studies, human rights, and Transitional Justice regarding the role played by corporations during the Cold War military dictatorships in Latin America.