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Argentina: What Went Wrong (Greenwood Encyclopedias of Mod) PDF

240 Pages·2006·1.03 MB·English
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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 ∞ 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

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Why has Argentina failed so spectacularly, both economically and politically? It is a puzzle because the country seemed to have all the requirements for greatness, including a well-established middle class of professionals. Its failure raises the specter that other middle-class societies could also
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