Argentine Democratic Politics in an Era of Global Economic Crisis

Abstract

This essay investigates the political and economic conditions that shaped Argentina's response to the international economic crisis of 2008-2009 and its effects on the democratic regime. Argentina managed not only to preserve its democracy but also to improve its citizens' level of support for it during the crisis. Three factors account for these outcomes. One is the government's ability to obtain funding for its counter-cyclical policies, which enabled it to redress some of the economic and social effects of the crisis. Another factor is the government's success in presenting its statist and redistributive policy responses as a break with the past, thus recreating expectations of change to the status quo and hope for a better future. Finally, the timing of the legislative election and the coalitional dynamics of the opposition allowed the government to perform a strategic shift, which effectively reshaped the political agenda and enabled the ruling coalition to recover from an important electoral defeat by reinventing its nature. These factors enabled the incumbent government to recast the continuity of its previous policies as a novel response to the crisis, and thus rekindle the basis for a positive assessment of the democratic regime among citizens.