What is Historical process – Definition of the Concept

Definition of

historical process

Process It is a concept with several meanings. In this case we will stay with its meaning as the series of successive stages of an operation or phenomenon. Historicalmeanwhile, is that linked to the history: the set of social, political, cultural and economic events of a nation; the exposition and explanation of past events; or the scientific discipline dedicated to the study and chronological narration of past events.

It is easy to understand, roughly or from everyday language, what a historical process is. However, for the history As a science, the idea of ​​historical process alludes to a specific notion, with certain particularities.

Article Topics

  • What is a historical process?
  • The case of Argentine democracy
  • Made and process: similarities and differences
  • Related Topics Tree

What is a historical process?

In this sense it must be said that a historical process is a succession of historical events that are related to each other and develop throughout the time. A historical factin turn, is a past event that has relevance to the historian (the history expert).

While a historical fact has a limited duration, historical processes are more extensive since they link several historical events. It can be affirmed that a historical process is a construction that arises from integration of different historical facts that maintain a bond.

It can help you: Historical past

The case of Argentine democracy

The recovery of democracy in Argentinawhich was achieved in 1983 behind the coup perpetrated in 1976is an example of a historical process.

In it, multiple historical events can be recognized that in one way or another had an impact on its developmentsuch as the formation of associations that brought together relatives of disappeared detaineesthe organization of the Soccer World Cup 1978 and the defeat in Falklands War.

See also: Direct democracy

Made and process: similarities and differences

Depending on the context, it is not always easy to distinguish the concepts of fact and historical process, since they have aspects in common. Next we will see some of these similarities, but we will also contrast them with their differences to know how to recognize each one in the pages of world history. Let’s start with a possible similarity: both one and the other have the potential to generate major changes, in many cases irreversible, in the life of a person, a people or even the planet as a whole. He made Being born positively affects the baby’s family, just as the impact of a meteorite on earth can cause destruction for millions of people.

Although a historical process can also mark a before and after In the reality of the human being, the fact has the particularity of being unique and unrepeatable: this characteristic is slightly ambiguous, since we could affirm that a process such as the recovery of Argentine democracy also occurs only once, but the difference is that the event is a milestone, a snapshot of history, while the process focuses on one or more aim they can be tried more than once. In other words: there may be many coups, but each one will be unique; On the other hand, the various processes of a country to get back on its feet are characterized by the events that comprise it, and not by the objective itself, which is always the same.

Finally, we can say that historical events do not usually involve as many people as processes, or at least they tend to cause surprise, to manifest themselves unexpectedly, while processes involve extensive planning and organization stages that can involve several countries, both at a political, military and social level. Let us contrast the detection of the first case of COVID-19 with the different measures that the world took over the years to combat it.