Junta (governing body)

Junta (/ˈhʊntə/ or /ˈʌntə/) is a Spanish, Portuguese and Italian (giunta) term for a civil deliberative or administrative council. In English, the term, even when used alone, generally refers to a "military junta", the government of an authoritarian state run by high-ranking officers of a military. The literal meaning of the word derives from juntar (to join);[1] a group of people with a common purpose.

In Italy, a giunta is the civil executive of regions and municipalities (comune). In Spain, the term refers to various historical and current governing institutions of a particular territory or occasion. In English, the now-obsolete term "junto", derived from the Spanish "junta", was used without authoritarian connotation, first attested from 1641; the Whig Junto was a political faction in early 18th-century Britain.[2]

Historical examples

  • Junta (Habsburg)
  • Specific to Spain:
  • Argentina:
  • Chile in the 1810s:
    • List of Government Juntas of Chile
  • Portugal:
  • Other organisations:
    • Junta de Investigación de Accidentes de Aviación Civil, the Argentinian civil aviation accident investigation agency
    • Revolutionary Government Junta, three consecutive Salvadoran joint civilian-military dictatorships
    • Junta Investigadora de Accidentes de Aviación Civil, the former Venezuelan civil aviation accident investigation agency
    • Junta de Aviación Civil, the Dominican Republic civil aviation authority
    • Junta de Administración Portuaria y de Desarrollo Económico de la Vertiente Atlántica de Costa Rica, the Costa Rican Board of Port Administration and Economic Development of the Atlantic Coast
    • Junta (trade unionism), a group of leading British trade unionists in the 1860s

See also

References

  1. ^ "junta". Diccionario de la lengua española (in Spanish) (Tricentenario ed.).
  2. ^ "junto". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  3. ^ Hoeffel, Paul (March 25, 2016). "Junta takes over in Argentina: archive, 25 March 1976". The Guardian – via www.theguardian.com.