Social mobilization and politics in Argentina: peak and crisis of the left turn

ANA NATALUCCI

Boston

Congreso; Congress of the Latin American Studies Association; 2019

LASA

This paper discusses the characteristics and meanings of the social protests within this cycle and their effects on the political regimen in relation to the crisis of the left turn. The main argument is that the political field and the mobilization field did not follow the same logic. While the political arena was signed by a logic of polarization, expressed in terms of ?Populism? versus ?Republic? or ?Kirchnerist? versus ?anti-Kirchnerist?, the dynamic of the mobilization field was heterogeneous in terms of actors, demands and repertoires of contention. In this line, the mobilization cycle had two main consequences which anticipated the crisis of the left turn: First, the emergence of an anti-Kirchnerist space among the middle sectors created the conditions for a new opposition party; second, the loss of Kirchnerism?s capacity for political articulation and innovation weakened the government?s strategic alliances with some popular sectors. Both factors were decisive for the victory of right-wing Let?s Change coalition in the presidential elections of 2015.