Argentina: What Went Wrong

240 Pages·2009·1.16 MB·English

Argentina

Argentina
What Went Wrong
COLIN M. MACLACHLAN
Foreword by Douglas Brinkley
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
MacLachlan, Colin M.
Argentina : what went wrong / Colin M. MacLachlan; foreword by Douglas Brinkley.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0–275–99076–1
1. Argentina—History—1810– I. Title.
F2843.M33 2006
982—dc22 2005036832
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available.
Copyright © 2006 by Colin M. MacLachlan
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be
reproduced, by any process or technique, without the
express written consent of the publisher.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2005036832
ISBN: 0–275–99076–1
First published in 2006
Praeger Publishers, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881
An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.
www.praeger.com
Printed in the United States of America
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TM
The paper used in this book complies with the
Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National
Information Standards Organization (Z39.48–1984).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Foreword by Douglas Brinkley vii
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction xiii
Chronology xv
1 Fringe of Empire 1
2 The Compromise 15
3 Urban Reality 43
4 Confronting the Oligarchy 69
5 The Age of Perón 101
6 A Distant Shadow 125
7 The Proceso's Dark Shadow, Menem, and Neoliberalism 151
Conclusion: Who or What Is to Blame? 181
Glossary 201
Notes 203
Selected Bibliography of Works in English 211
Index 217

Foreword
Over the years I’ve developed a rare good habit of reading the great
Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges for relaxation. Too often, as a histo-
rian my mind gets rutted in footnotes and facts. Borges’ fiction dealt with
swirling spirits, midnight trances, and existential moments. To me his
elegant prose was always an escape from reality. Paradoxically, however,
in a real Borgesian twist, his fiction got me extremely interested in his
home country. So it’s with great interest and joy that I got to read Colin
MacLachlan’s title, a gripping historical survey, full of analytical savvy
and apercus.
A rgentina—at one time believed to be a new-world cornucopia—went
from a grand illusion to a basket case within a tumultuous century. What
happened to prosperity, cultural refinement, and an educated population,
those socio-economic elements the rest of the world thought guaranteed
greatness? When Borges was born in 1899 the whole world danced to
the Tango and admired the distant South Atlantic republic’s conquest of
civilization. Its history appeared to mirror developments in the United
States. Both countries relied on immigrants to supply the labor to build
a nation. Italians, Eastern Europeans, British, Spaniards, and others
arrived in large numbers in New York City a nd Buenos Aires. Indeed,
some immigrant families had relatives in both countries. Fertile land and
a ready market in Europe for meat and cereals brought boom-times to
both the United States and Argentina. There was, however, a downside,
best described as chronic dependency. The surplus wealth of Europe
flowed into both economies. At a casual glance, Argentina seemingly
evolved in the same ambitious fashion as the United States. The growth
viii Foreword
of a middle class, a national effort to create a literate educated population,
the transformative impact of technology, modernization of gender roles,
the invention of culture and urbanization—these were all realities of mod-
ern Argentina. It was a country brimming with intellectuals. Many of them
lived or traveled in the United States, like Domingo Faustino Sarmiento,
a close friend of American educator Horace Mann. Cecilia Grierson, the
first Argentine-trained female medical doctor and active in the movement
for women’s equality in Argentina, likewise had spent time in the United
States. Buenos Aires became a glitzy world capital, attracting the likes
of Theodore Roosevelt and Maria Montessori. Most of these foreigners
marveled at the level of sophistication the country had achieved in such a
short burst of time. One could mention Buenos Aires in the same breath as
Chicago or San Francisco and not an eyebrow would be raised. Argentina
appeared to be a worthy rival for greatness with the great metropolitans
of America. The extensive similarities between the two republics appeared
obvious. But, in the end, what they did not have in common proved more
historically decisive.
P rosperity came almost too quickly to Argentina. Land, demand, and
profit created an oligarchy that soon dominated politics as well as wealth.
In the early decades of independence the United States ran the same
risk. Fortunately, Thomas Jefferson, a Virginia oligarch but an enlight-
ened dreamer, thought in terms of a small farmer agrarian democracy,
and Andrew Jackson elevated the common people beyond the reach
of a small privileged class. Argentina around the end of the nineteenth
century attempted to do the same. But by that time it could not over-
come an entrenched oligarchy intent on holding on to landed wealth
and its export wealth. Voting reforms in 1912, had they been instituted
much earlier, might have worked. But introduced at that late date totally
failed. In Argentina the influx of immigrants remained outside of society,
unabsorbed, while in the United States the early growth of political par-
ties made voters of raw immigrants within hours of their arrival in New
York. Argentina developed all the outer characteristics of a liberal democ-
racy but failed to generate the motivational values to make it function.
The desire to force it to work led to experimentation with authoritarian
regimes in the 1930s, with Juan and Evita Perón in the 1950s and the
mutilating excesses of the military in the 1970s. Failure to stumble on the
solution engendered a destructive nationalism that sought scapegoats
and hid behind victimization. While the role of the IMF, World Bank, and
Inter-American Development Bank can be criticized, the roots of the prob-
lem are grounded in the Argentine experience. Frustration, resentment,
and pessimism replaced promise and crippled effective action. Political
paralysis lead to wide-spread corruption as desperate people attempted
to extract personal success (i.e. money) from a failing system.
Foreword ix
The oligarchy with its values grounded in landed wealth discouraged
industrialization and economic diversification. They were too greedy and
short-sighted for that. They feared that Britain, their largest market for
foodstuffs, would insist that Argentina buy British manufactured goods
or they would turn to the their bread colonies of Canada, Australia, and
New Zealand for imports. You might say Argentina became an informal
member of the British Empire. Once seen as the most promising country
in Latin America, Argentina fell behind Brazil and Mexico in the sweep-
stakes to industrialize. State-run factories failed to propel the country
forward. Central planning during the Perón era, while momentarily suc-
cessful, soon collapsed. Neo-liberalism under President Carlos Menem
failed to achieve reforms that might have made it work.
A rgentina found itself mired in a horrendous downward spiral, a
chain of political failures crippling the very joie de vivre of its hard-earned
capitalism. Will Argentina be able to catch up in an era of globalization?
That remains to be seen. My brilliant Tulane University colleague Colin
MacLachlan has, however, written a book that captures the grim drama
and pulsating excitement of modern Argentina. It is a book for the learned
and one Borges—I think—would have admired for its erudition.
Douglas Brinkley
Tulane University
New Orleans
December 31, 2005