The spoils of war : accounting for the missing children of Argentina's "Dirty War"

During the military dictatorship in Argentina (1976--1983), 30,000 civilians disappeared. Most of these people were taken by the military to clandestine prisons where they were tortured and killed. The children of these victims were also seized, and pregnant women were kept alive long enough to give birth. An estimated five hundred infants and young children of the disappeared were given for adoption to highly connected families. This thesis consists of a historical background of these events and then offers a series of explanations as to why the military did this