Argentina and democracy: a possible game? (THESIS VERSION)

Abstract

The enduring strength of civil society in Argentina helps explain the preservation of the Argentine post-1983 electoral democracy. However, even though a vast majority of Argentines prefer democracy as a political system, Argentine democracy has thus far not been able to assure the effective exercise of citizenship. Furthermore, the nation’s citizens have lost confidence in their representatives due to socio-economic mismanagement and a large number of corruption scandals through which politicians, judges and police commissioners, among others, have grown rich. The high levels of public support for the Kirchner administration point to a crisis of representation that reached its height in December 2001, but that has subsided during the subsequent six years. Yet, for Argentine democracy to consolidate, symbolic gestures to particular sectors of civil society need to give way to long-term effective policy that will reduce the poverty, corruption, and impunity.