{"id":49018,"date":"2025-06-24T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-24T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/?p=49018"},"modified":"2025-06-23T19:29:36","modified_gmt":"2025-06-23T22:29:36","slug":"is-democratic-consensus-in-argentina-continuing-to-recede","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/is-democratic-consensus-in-argentina-continuing-to-recede\/","title":{"rendered":"Is democratic consensus in Argentina continuing to recede?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We are facing the challenge of a new electoral year in Argentina<\/a>. Indeed, thirteen provinces are holding national legislative elections, eleven of them will also have subnational and local elections, and two provinces \u2014Corrientes and Santiago del Estero\u2014 will elect new executive leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, this prolonged electoral year coexists with growing concern about the trajectory of democracy in our country, which in the upcoming December will mark 42 years of institutional continuity, all while facing a deterioration of the political consensus that has supported it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is political consensus?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Every political consensus is based on some level of agreement regarding rules (formal or informal) and\/or values. In the realm of values, we can identify the minimal existence of democratic consensus to the extent that it is possible to recognize at least two basic conditions: 1)The mutual recognition of political actors as adversaries and at the same time as legitimate interlocutors, and 2) the exclusion of physical and symbolic violence as a means to resolve political disputes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The return of democracy in 1983 brought with it the emergence of a set of political practices more aligned with a consensual style: the bipartisan unity in response to the Easter military uprising in 1987, the agreements that enabled the 1994 constitutional reform, Eduardo Duhalde\u2019s quasi-coalitional experience, and the formation of the Dialogue Roundtable sponsored by the Catholic Church during the 2001\/2002 social crisis \u2014 these are emblematic examples of a greater inclination toward compromise, regardless of the value judgments that such \u201cunity in diversity\u201d initiatives may deserve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The conflict between Cristina Fern\u00e1ndez de Kirchner\u2019s nascent government and agricultural organizations in early 2008 over \u201cResolution 125\u201d marked a turning point. It reinstated a confrontational dynamic that had been largely abandoned since democracy’s return in 1983, transitioning politics from a space of compromise to an agonistic view: political competition was no longer between adversaries but between irreconcilable enemies (at times, though not entirely so).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This return to confrontation brought with it the emergence and propagation of expressions aimed at discrediting the adversary (now seen as a political enemy) and exacerbating (pre)existing societal divisions. During the Kirchner era, terms with questionable explanatory power but undeniable persuasive effect surfaced, such as the label \u201cdestituyente\u201d (destabilizer), and the use of dehumanizing nicknames for political leaders or factions like \u201cel gato\u201d (the cat), \u201cla yegua\u201d (the mare), and the reappearance of the term \u201cgorilas.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Javier Milei and Cristina Fern\u00e1ndez de Kirchner: Continuity or Change?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Javier Milei\u2019s experience deepens the antagonism at the narrative<\/a> level through expressions such as \u201cla casta\u201d (the caste) to refer to the political class and now also to independent media, \u201crats\u201d to characterize various institutional actors, and \u201cmandrills,\u201d \u201ceconochantas\u201d (phony economists), or \u201crepublican nerds\u201d to describe those who voice dissent against official policies \u2014 whether in substance or form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a weak government that simultaneously displays an unmistakable hegemonic ambition and a bifrontal president who has yet to resolve the tension between being a prophetic visionary and a pragmatic politician by trade: La Libertad Avanza<\/em>, in confrontation mode.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This tendency toward confrontation may explain an unusual capacity for self-inflicted crises. While these have not yet undermined governability, they could do so if this pattern persists in less favorable contexts. In this climate, we might highlight President Milei\u2019s speech at the Davos forum, the so-called \u201cCryptogate\u201d episode, or the executive\u2019s insistent push for the unviable nominations of Ariel Lijo and Manuel Garc\u00eda Mansilla to the Supreme Court, to name just a few.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In conclusion<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We are witnessing a political context marked by diminishing tolerance toward adversaries, a weakening of the consensus on excluding verbal and physical violence as political tools, and the perpetual return of \u201cPRI-like fantasies\u201d by successive ruling parties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The continuity of political style and the change in the ideological content of public policy seem to symbolize the traits of these new\/old times. As the recurring joke goes on the social network X (formerly Twitter), it doesn\u2019t matter (from 2008 to today) when<\/em> you write this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*Machine translation proofread by Jana\u00edna da Silva.<\/sub><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This prolonged election year coexists with growing concern about the course of a democracy that faces a deterioration of the political consensus on which it has been based.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":235,"featured_media":48999,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16844,16733],"tags":[15635],"gps":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-49018","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-democracia-en","8":"category-argentina-en","9":"tag-debates"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/235"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49018"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49018\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49018"},{"taxonomy":"gps","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/gps?post=49018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}