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 3rd
term reelection of the president, crime - insecurity, inflation and protection
of democracy.
Background Information:
In the 1940s, ARGENTINA
was 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.htm
and 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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