ARGENTINA-40-year Democracy

ARGENTINA’S 40-YEAR DEMOCRACY
PRE-READING:
1) Look up the following words in the dictionary and write their meanings:
a) Youth: d) Imposed: g) Successful:

b) Maturity: e) Resilience: h) Enforcement:
c) Midlife: f) Development: i) Replacement:
2) Read the title below: What do you think the article will be about? Make your own predictions about it.
3) Now read the text and solve the after-reading activities.
10 MARCH, 2023
Argentina’s democracy and the midlife crisis of the 40s
SANTIAGO LEIRAS
The midlife crisis represents a period of personal questioning that appears when we pass from youth to maturity. It is
usually characterized by a feeling of frustration, due to not having fulfilled self-imposed life expectations or those imposed
on us by society itself. This metaphor could very well represent the (not so) young Argentine democracy, about to turn 40
years old next December 10.
The Argentine democratic cycle (1983-2023): a bittersweet balance sheet
Argentina’s democracy has shown ample signs of resilience over four decades of institutional development, having
weathered the military crisis between 1987 and 1990, the economic crisis between 1989 and 1991, and the social crisis
between 2001 and 2002. All these tests were, to a greater or lesser extent, satisfactorily overcome.
This fact deserves to be highlighted because, since the enforcement of the so-called Saenz Peña law in 1912, which
established the universal secret and compulsory nature of suffrage, the institutional life of Argentina until 1983 had
alternated between military, civil-military, democratic regimes without republican content, republican without democratic
content or semi-democratic regimes.
Nevertheless, this long cycle exposes us to a modest balance in terms of the satisfaction of social expectations. This has
been a process of few achievements (a resilient democracy, a growth of the agenda on civil rights of a different
generation) that coexists with many frustrations in relation to that hope of a political regime that had the capacity to satisfy
multiple demands, which was synthesized in the slogan “With democracy we eat, we cure, and we educate”, so present in
the campaign message of the candidate Raúl Alfonsín in 1983.
The increase in poverty, the ever-growing levels of social inequality, and the increase in urban insecurity highlight the
difficulties in fulfilling the reparation promise made in that distant (and so close at the same time) 1983.
This long period of democracy has coexisted and still coexists with a long cycle of emergency that began in 1989 and has
lasted until today with some brief interregnums between 1999 and 2001, and from 2015 to 2018. Democratic Argentina
has lived in an (almost) permanent emergency, to paraphrase the Argentine political scientist Hugo Quiroga.
Between democracy and emergency
The 1989 presidential replacement (the first stage of the emergency of democracy) took place in an unprecedented
context in contemporary Argentina. For the first time in the discontinuous constitutional history of our country, power was
handed over between presidents of different political parties: Raúl Alfonsín, for the Unión Cívica Radical, and Carlos Saúl
Menem, for Justicialismo. The sociopolitical context, marked by a terminal economic crisis (hyperinflation), a social crisis
(looting), and a crisis of the state model that had been implemented since World War II, forced the radical leader to hand
over power early.
The combination of a fragile electoral coalition, based on unstable agreements and in the midst of a recessive domestic
economic situation, with fiscal restriction and exchange rate rigidity (and a financial environment not very available for
cooperation), as well as a social rebellion led by popular and middle sectors, were the main factors that led to the crisis at
the beginning of the century in Argentina. A crisis that culminated with the resignation of Fernando de la Rúa on
December 20, 2001, and the beginning of a new stage of emergency.
At the beginning of 2020, Argentina’s democracy had to face a new emergency, this time as a result, of no longer an
economic catastrophe as in 1989, or a social one as in 2001, but of an international health crisis, due to the pandemic
declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO).
As a result of the health crisis, the Argentine economy was one of the hardest hit, along with Peru and Venezuela, with a
fall in GDP above the regional average during 2020. The prolonged quarantine had poor results, in addition to the
transgressions from the highest presidential authority (“Olivosgate”). The vaccination campaign was ineffective and had
cases of open violation of the most elementary principle of equality before the law (“Vacunatorio VIP”) and the prolonged
closure of educational activity, partially compensated with virtual teaching at different levels, which implied an educational
gap for a whole generation of students.
To the deficient results mentioned above, we must add the failure of the Argentine president to keep his promise to
establish a more cooperative relationship with the opposition and, consequently, a new political climate: the
aforementioned balance allows us to affirm that this crisis was an opportunity, but wasted, for the government of Alberto
Fernández.
And yet…
Before this balance of achievements, limitations, quasi-chronic emergency, and unfulfilled expectations over forty years of
Argentina’s democracy, we can (and should) still say, as Norberto Bobbio did in his famous essay “The Future of
Democracy”: “and yet…”.
*Translated from Spanish by Janaína Ruviaro da Silva. Retrieved from https://latinoamerica21.com/en/argentinas-

democracy-and-the-midlife-crisis-of-the-40s/
AFTER READING ACTIVITIES:

1) Why is the article titled “Argentina’s democracy and the midlife crisis of the 40s”? What does it mean?
Explain it with your own words.
2) True or false?
a. Argentina's democracy has been resilient over four decades of institutional development.
b. The Saenz Pena law established the universal secret and compulsory nature of suffrage.
c. The 2001 crisis in Argentina was caused only by an economic catastrophe.
d. The pandemic declared by the WHO had a negative impact on Argentina's economy.
e. The Argentine president has kept his promise to establish a cooperative relationship with the opposition.
f. Argentina's democracy has been a success in terms of fulfilling social expectations.
3) Linguistic Intelligence: Create a summary of the article using a graphic organizer.
4) Logical-Mathematical Intelligence: Create a timeline of the major events in the history of Argentine
democracy.
5) Spatial Intelligence: Create a visual representation of the main points of the article.
6) Intrapersonal Intelligence: Write a reflection on the impact of the midlife crisis on Argentine democracy.

ARGENTINA-40-year Democracy

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

ARGENTINA-40-year Democracy

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

ARGENTINA-40-year Democracy

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

ARGENTINA’S 40-YEAR DEMOCRACY

a) Youth: d) Imposed: g) Successful:

The Argentine democratic cycle (1983-2023): a bittersweet balance sheet

Between democracy and emergency

*Translated from Spanish by Janaína Ruviaro da Silva. Retrieved from https://latinoamerica21.com/en/argentinas-

AFTER READING ACTIVITIES:

You might also like