Capitalism vs. Democracy in Argentina. A new politics from "below"?

EMILIA CASTORINA

York University Toronto (Canadá)

Congreso; 75 Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences; 2006

Canadian Federation for the Societies and Social Sciences

By the end of 2001, the model of capitalist (financial) accumulation imposed in Argentina since the late 1970s and reinforced by the economic and institutional reforms carried out during the 1990s showed its social and political limits as the intensification of market discipline impoverished millions and caused significant social dislocations. To some extent, the Argentinean crisis of 2001 illuminates an unpalatable truth about globalization: the evolution of capitalism into a system of dominance by the few; those who have access to, and control over finance; but who are not accountable either to the rule of law or the democratic institutions. The aim of this paper is to analyze the extent to which this crisis has put into question the overall normative and political conditions of neo-liberal capitalism in Argentina. On the one hand, the project of democratization from ´above´ as established in Argentina has reached some serious contradictions as formal liberal democracy has lost its meaning (and legitimacy) for the vast majority of the population. On the other hand, is there a new politics from ´below´?