Unemployment and inequality dropped significantly during their combined three terms. Above all, they had a populist sixth sense for detecting demands from vulnerable groups and transform them into rights and policies from gender equality to an appreciation of the Indigenous legacy in a nation where most people perceive themselves as white.
Not a revolution, yet a relief to suffering. He was the first and only democratic president to attempt to undo the democratic pact erected in His administration mostly dismissed the trials against human rights violations committed during the dictatorship, argued that the poor took advantage of social benefits, limited the rights of citizens against the security forces, and sought to limit the benefits of undocumented immigrants. They insisted that the poor who supported Peronism or unions or Indigenous activists—or any forceful change in their situation—were acting out of mindless hunger.
The rhetoric was not about Peronism as a political party. Macri ran for reelection in with a Peronist running mate, but campaigned on the idea that populism had restrained economic liberty. Some 41 percent of people live below the poverty line, including six out ten children, while inflation runs at 55 percent and unemployment reached 10 percent. D emocratic populism has been a consistent alternative to liberal and right-wing violence against the poor.
But right-wing and liberal policy makers have a clearer understanding of populism as their nemesis. And Argentina is, again, a symbol of that threat. In , when U. Left, few have perceived their common ground with the populist regional tradition. The persistent mobilizations in Chile have led analysts to argue that there, too, it is the time of populism, this time in order to save democracy.
Then again, Argentine workers were unaware of the populist revolt they were going to lead on October 17, His forthcoming book is a history of anti-populism in Argentina. Like this article? Support our work. D onate now. Search form Search. Enter your keywords. A look back at the factors that led to Peronism—and populism's—resurgence in Argentina. January 30, The Resurgence of Peronism D emocratic populism has been a consistent alternative to liberal and right-wing violence against the poor.
Banner of the project Participar. In Misiones Province, Figure 3. Map of Misiones Province. In particular, child domestic labour, child trafficking transporting children within the country or overseas in order to exploit them and child prostitution are three closely related issues. Journalists and local social organisations often find themselves in an uneven battle against criminal networks that profit from these crimes, and that usually act in collusion with levels of authority and even partly with the complicity of society itself.
Failings in the control of border crossings, a lack of specific public policies, poverty and complicity have meant that, for a long time, the area has been conducive to this type of crime. Therefore, the project aimed, first, to strengthen the capacities of local governments in this matter. However, during the course of the activities new local authorities became interested and joined the project, until it totalled 39 across the province. Training local actors civil servants, social actors and workers, teachers, etc.
Inter-institutional cooperation and the development of networks;. Community mobilisation and participation. Information was gathered on local resources, IT systems and the status of local protection systems. However, another key aspect was the organisation of a Virtual Course used for teaching due to the fact that many people with responsibilities in this subject matter were unable to travel. Figure 4. However, by applying the information-gathering procedures established by the project, qualitative information was obtained from the actors and this made it possible to detect progress in the dissemination of and access to services, and an increase in the number of complaints regarding rights violations, particularly those related to violence and sexual abuse.
This means that during the course of the project, it had a direct impact on improving the situation of children and adolescents. Governmental and political actors with greater awareness of the need to drive forward efficient public policies on this matter, and civil society representatives who were ready to commit to and collaborate on achieving this aim, started this process by structuring and setting up the Municipal Councils for Guaranteeing the Rights of Children and Adolescents and other coordination mechanisms planned by legislation but still non-existent at a local level.
They also promoted regulations and procedures, such as the construction of instruments for the protection of rights, many of which are already in operation. This was a direct impact on local government planning and action in this subject matter. The immediate impact was the identification and management of specific cases related to identity, child labour and violence, and the development of local resource banks that could become a highly valuable and effective instrument for their work in the future.
Comments on all these points were highly positive. According to comments by the provincial authorities today, since the project, they are now asked by the municipal authorities to establish or strengthen these Councils, reversing the previous situation.
As explained above, although it was not possible to carry out thorough research into the impact, it has been confirmed by the provincial sources responsible for this subject matter. Work also focused on the need to optimise recording systems, identifying and linking sources with information requirements. The Office for the Defence of the Rights of Children and Adolescents proposed to the project team that the creation of an assessment team should be analysed, that could monitor all actions programmes, projects, application of laws, etc.
Given this legal responsibility, the State must create an organisational system and measure its adequacy and performance according to a set of criteria. In general, three overall assessment criteria are applied:.
Creation formal : specific existence and duration of parts of the system;. Effective coordination rationality : design and efficiency of the system;. Effectiveness operation : the system achieves its planned aims to the benefit of the receivers.
During the course of the project, many cases of rights violation were identified and directed towards their management. In the 44 local authorities where work took place, at the start of the project only 8 had a Municipal Council for Guaranteeing the Rights of Children and Adolescents. Argentina has been a democracy since , when they finally held elections amid more and more calls for them during the period of harsh military dictatorship from Argentina was a troubled democracy under a constitution from , still in effect today with changes , for decades prior to the military dictatorship.
Following a cycle of presidents and coups during the late 60s to , when that last one occurred, the new military government began an immediate crackdown and violent repression campaign against opposition forces and anyone they viewed as insurgents. This period of time is known as the Dirty War. This resulted in the murder, torture, and disappearance of as many as 30, people in the years the military junta was in power. Since the election in however, power has peacefully transitioned between opposition parties, mostly Peronist party members holding office in that time.
In the 21 st century, their democracy has continued to hold up despite their biggest challenges being that of economic downturn i. Overall, the state of their democracy today can be described as fairly strong, obviously not without the challenges mentioned above among others. Since the start of the 21 st century, there have been several instances of backsliding, but for the purpose of this analysis, I will be looking at those instances between and In those years, democratic backsliding occurred in , from , from , and , according to the liberal democracy index chart on the V-Dem database.
The decreases that do occur in the span of this last decade seem to be concentrated in specific years, where it will then increase slightly once again. From my initial research, these instances of democratic erosion were in the context of domestic politics and governance due to corruption and government response to economic downturn. This is not to say that international affairs did not influence any of this, only to say that the causes and precursors to the decreases in their level of liberal democracy seem to be more tied to domestic politics, economy, and corruption.
I am looking specifically at , and there are several, more time-limited precursors that can explain these sudden and short-lived decreases. First there is the historic political instability of Argentine politics that I think comes into play at least to a smaller degree when discussing their current measures of democracy.
He championed labor unions and nationalizing many industries in Argentina. Peron rapidly gained a large base in the lower income levels and among unions. He was removed from office during a coup in and exiled, Peron would not return until , when he was allowed back by the military. He was quickly elected president once again, only to die a year later of natural causes, at which point his then-wife took over for 2 years until the coup in removed her [i]. The movement established under Peron would be something to define Argentine politics for generations to come, all the way to today.
Politics consists of Peronists versus non-Peronists. The opposition seems to be defined by them simply not being Peronist. Within the Peronist party however, there are many different ideologies and divides.
The reason I bring all of this up is to paint the picture of Argentine politics as a struggle, with it usually always coming down to Peronists versus non-Peronists. Democratic erosion occurs when the winners, in this case Peronists, are in power so much that it allows some to take advantage of corrupt connections and deals to accomplish their goals. Although I would not describe political polarization as on the level of the United States, it certainly exists just in the very nature of their politics ever since Juan Peron came into the picture in the 40s.
Their annual GDP growth rate has zig zagged constantly for all of those decades. This naturally leads to economic instability, uncertainty, and rapid changes in the value of the Argentine Peso. They are described as an upper middle-income economy by the World Bank. The reason this is relevant is that the unstable nature of the economy has, in the past, led to great ideological swings in who the people elect. At its worst, it led to the coup in that removed Peron, and many of the subsequent coups in later years, combined with the banning of the Peronist party.
The decline in their democracy in coincided with their biggest economic problem in years when the Argentine Peso tanked in value. Inflation was high and then-president Mauricio Macri turned to the International Monetary Fund for help by requesting a loan.
Onto the more immediately impactful precursors, corruption at the highest levels.
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