Towards a New Politics: Citizenship and Rights in Contemporary Argentina

PERUZZOTTI ENRIQUE

Citizenship Studies

Routledge

Año: 2002 vol. 6 p. 77 - 93

The emergence of a human rights movement represented a cultural turning point in many Latin American societies. The movement´s struggle acted as a catalyst for political learning, triggering a profound renovation of the region´s democratic traditions. The most impressive development has been the emergence of a rights-oriented discourse that reunites two elements that populist forms of self-understanding had kept separate: democracy and the rule of law. Cultural innovation gave birth to a new form of politicization that greatly differs from the movementist and corporatist practices of past populist movements, for the former is guided by a liberal concern: establishing clear institutional boundaries between state and civil society. Through the analysis of a series of citizens´ initiatives and movements, the paper analyzes this new form of politicization and its contribution to the authorization and effectivization of rights as institutions