ARGENTINA, BARELY 30 YEARS OF DEMOCRACY, A YOUNG NATION TRYING TO FIND ITS BEARING
In the 1940s ARGENTINA was the 9th richest country in world, in 2002 the country defaulted and in 2012 the country is struggling economically as well as politically. Recent protest against the current administration, allegedly were the largest since the beginning of democracy in 1982. One has to be cautious though with these assumptions for there is a more complex cause behind these protests. Primary demands of the protesting middle class were to curb in corruption, opposing constitution change to facilitate 3rdterm reelection of the president, crime - insecurity, inflation and protection of democracy.
Background Information:
In the 1940s, ARGENTINAwas the ninth wealthiest country in the world
ORCHESTRATED OR GENUINE PROTESTS?
One has to cautiously question however if only “democracy loving” protesters took to the streets during recent protests. In ARGENTINA still exists the monopoly of print media and the discourse the current administration took has frightened the media group Clarin for it could lose its monopoly in ARGENTINA. The new law stipulates democratization of the media landscape in ARGENTINA. Thus the Clarin group fears loss of power and influence in public opinion shaping and therefore mobilizes to some extend against the administrations, but surly not to protect democratic values. Not to mention the Agriculture producers and corporations, who are in disagreement with the current administration over who gets the bigger stake of the “Soya revenue cake”. To some extend this is about economic interests and not democracy. Thus one has to look closer who was demonstrating and for what cause.
ARGENTINA COULD HAVE DODGED THE CURRENT WORLDWIDE ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL CRISIS DUE TO FAVORABLE INTERNAL ECONOMIC CONDITIONS (AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES), IF TACKLED THE CORRECT WAY
Most of the current difficulties however are homemade, for ARGENTINA is one of the worlds leading agriculture commodity exporter as well as developing the countries mining industry in order to extract its vast amount of natural resource. After defaulting the country paid back its entire dept with the IMF, however because of its pending dept with the “Paris Club” it has been expelled from international financial institutions, a move, which has proven not too much of a burden for the country, because demand for agriculture commodities kept rising and thus the country obtained sufficient revenues, despite being band obtaining international loans, thus permitting the country to conduct trade without needing to adhered to doctrines set by international financial institutions. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argentine_debt_restructuring
Background Information:
ARGENTINE agriculture export
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AUSTRALIA AND ARGENTINA, TWO COUNTRIES ROUGHLY THE SAME “AGE”!
Considering all these favorable circumstance (Agriculture commodity export, natural resource etc.), one obviously has to question why ARGENTINA, after 200 years of history has not evolved to first world status? Comparing AUSTRALIA with ARGENTINA, both of whom have 200 years of history, AUSTRALIA advanced to first world status, while ARGENTINA seems to stagnate despite the fact that the latter has better conditions for advancement. AUSTRALIA lacks far behind ARGENTINA in agricultural commodity exports, fertile land as well as natural resources. The majority of the land is desert, nevertheless, AUSTRALIA emerged as a first world country with a functioning social security system, infrastructure development etc.
The Eco - political advance AUSTRALIA made during its 200 year history, in comparison to ARGENTINA becomes even more impressive when looking at its immigrant background, for most of AUSTRALIA’S first immigrants were convicts expelled to AUSTRALIA by the colonial power BRITAIN. Hardly a reputable immigrant force to reckon with. Nevertheless AUSTRALIA managed to emerge as a reputable and stable country. AUSTRALIA’S forefathers managed to evolve from outcast of society to reputable citizens.
ARGENTINA’S main immigrant background was mostly ITALIAN. It took ITALY two world wars to curb in organize crime syndicates in order to emerge as a trustworthy, almost corruption free nation in Europe. See: Immigrant background: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Argentine
CORRUPTION AND ORGANIZED CRIME SYNDICATES
Corruption and organized crime is a worldwide phenomena, however certain countries are more vulnerable than others, especially when a country such as ARGENTINA has experienced little less than 30 years of democracy. Being suppressed for generations reflects on society. A society experiencing sudden freedom and democracy after years of suppression is likely to venture out too its limits in order to see how far it can go, without the fear of repercussions.
Background Information:
Crime and corruption are two of the world's largest multinational industries
Looking at the ARGENTINE political landscape, this phenomenon is particularly strong. With the end of the military dictatorship, political entities quickly learned that democracy also offers the opportunity to enrich oneself and thus get a cut from the “tax income cake”, thereby neglecting the need of the common citizens.
In many matured democratic nations, official entities tend also to be corrupted, but they are wise enough to keep maybe 10 percent for themselves where as 90 percent go into infrastructure improvement and social welfare, to keep the public calm, where as in other countries the math’s are reversed, thus citizens experience lack of infrastructure improvement and social welfare as well as life quality, which in the long run backfires.
ARGENTINA HAS NO LIABLE POLITICAL OPPOSITION, OTHER THAN SELF SEEKING INDIVIDUALS FROM WITHIN THE PERONIST MOVEMENT
Despite being a democracy, ARGENTINA has been ruled, for most part of the last 30 years by one political entity, the Peronist Movement. The Peronist Movement in itself is unique for it hosts political views from far right to far left, all under one roof! Political opposition per say does not exist. Aspiring presidential candidates’ are mostly from within the Peronist Movement, without an independent political party and in most cases turn out to be self-seeking individuals striving for power in order to obtain maximum wealth. Currently ARGENTINA has no viable opposition and the Peronist Movement is hopelessly fractured. Over the last 30 years labor syndicate and other unions have gained extreme power and influence in ARGENTINA, and unlike in other countries, their political views are that of the center right, rather than center left. Needless to say that corruption within these bodies is ever present.
Background Information: Rise of Peronism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argentina
BUENOS AIRES DOES NOT REPRESENT THE ENTIRE NATION
By adopting, in theory at least, the EUROPEAN model of Social Democracy, (For definition of Social Democracy see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_democracy) the current administration managed to obtain the votes of the poor, which represent a large portion of the population. Thus, when the political debate, in the aftermath of the “countrywide” “large scale” anti government protest are in full swing, ARGENTINES, or to be politically correct, citizens of Buenos Aires and to some extend citizens of the province of Buenos Aires believe that these demonstrations represent the opinion of the entire nation.
Background Information:
Opposition lacks unity thus uses corporate media to oppose the government
Buenos Aires city and the province do not represent ARGENTINA per say, and although roughly 40% of the ARGENTINES populations lives in Buenos Aires province and the city, the latter is a “world within a world” so to speak and does not reflect opinion and lifestyle of the rest of the country. Even if, as the Clarin group claims, 700 000 protesters took to the streets nationwide, one hardly can assume that this figure concerns the current administration, taking into account that the entire nation has approx 40 million inhabitants and that the majority of the provinces are in favor of the current administration. ARGENTINA is still a deeply centralized country, thus everything revolves around Buenos Aires province and Buenos Aires city, thus neglecting that there is also a rest of ARGENTINA. A “leftover” of ARGENTINES past, when Federales and Unitarios argued over decentralization versus centralizations in ARGENTINA. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federales_%28Argentina%29
NEGLECTED INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT
Nevertheless ARGENTINA faces severe problems regarding its declining infrastructure, inflation and crime. Since the mid 1980s until 2012, no democratic elected government had invested decisive in the country’s infrastructure, the results of which are now emerging in a devastating way.
ORGANIZED CRIME, THE KEY HINDRANCES FOR EXPANSION
Depending on a countries maturity, corruption and organized crime are either an issues of concern or not. In recent protests, demonstrators claimed lack of security or in other words, rise in street crime in ARGENTINA. As devastating effect as every crime has on individuals who are victims, no one in ARGENTINA names the problem by its name: Organized Crime (OC). If political and economic entities in ARGENTINA could and really wanted to tackle OC syndicates (Mafia), corruption would decline, for OC and corruption coincide. Subsequently street crime would also decline.
(For Definition of OC see: http://www.organized-crime.de/organizedcrimedefinitions.htmand http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organized_crime)
DEMOCRACY IN ITS INFANCY
In many aspects ARGENTINA is still in its infancy, experimenting and evolving with its young democracy, seeing how far it can lean over the edge of the cliff before falling. In view of its short democracy, ARGENTINA should be given some leeway in order to progress. ARGENTINA still needs to mature politically as well as socially. Afterall it took most of the EUROPEAN countries two world wars to evolve and emerge as stable democracies and ITALY years to curb in the Mafia (OC) in order to become a nation worth reckoning.
Currently and in the near future it is unlikely that a strong political opposition will emerge in order to counterbalance the current political landscape in ARGENTINA. And even if one emerges, the question is if things will change for better or worst. What is worrying though is that during recent protest certain entities claimed that one year of military government would solve public security concerns and decimate the soaring crime rate. Such statements reflect immaturity and ignorance and are prove that democracy is still fragile.
ARGENTINA is a young democracy and no matter which part of the Peronist Movement is or is about to govern, good or bad, ARGENTINA will always emerge from its crisis, because of its vast natural resources and worldwide ever increasing demand for agriculture commodities, a favorable fact, which has helped ARGENTINA to rise like a phoenix from the ashes, in the past and in the future.
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Posted by: Tukiyooo
ARGENTINE PROTESTS Updated at :
7:11 PM
Monday, November 12, 2012
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