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As Javier Milei waltzed into the Argentinian Chamber of Deputies on December 10th, 2023, his sash draped around him as he was inaugurated as President, he hailed a ‘new era’ and that they were going to ‘begin the reconstruction of Argentina after more than one hundred years of decline.’ So, what caused this so-called decline, and how is Milei proposing to fix it?
It all began in 1946 with the election of Juan Peron, an era-defining leader whose profound impact on Argentinian politics has remained to this very day.
Juan Peron, one of the very few people in history who can claim to have an ideology named after them: Peronism. It came about through his fascination with the British Labour Party under Clement Attlee, and the Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. The intertwining of the fascistic tendencies of Mussolini, the public sector spirit of the British Labour Movement, and the Keynesianism of the American New Deal led to the birth of this radical new ideology. Juan Peron was elected in 1946, before being deposed in 1955 in the first military coup to try and throttle his movement. That would not be the last. After 18 years of military rule and elections in which the Peronist party, the Partido Justicialista, were banned from taking part, they were finally given permission to run in the 1973 elections, in which Juan Peron was elected once again. However, this was to be short-lived, as he would die the following year. His wife, Eva Peron, took over but due to the power vacuum created after his death was unable to consolidate power and was deposed in another military coup in 1976. This brutal military dictatorship remained until 1983, where after the humiliation of the Falklands War defeat, the regime collapsed, and democracy was restored.
The three pillars of Peronism lie within its commitment to ‘social justice, economic independence, and political sovereignty.’ To its defenders it is described as a ‘national liberation movement,’ and yet to its critics, such as Chilean Senator Ignacio Walker, it has been derided as a ‘fascistoid’ and 'authoritarian’ ideology. Each subsequent President identifying as a Peronist has interpreted each pillar differently and has adapted it for the issues of the day. The most recent Peronist politicians, Alberto Fernandez (President) and Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (Vice-President), served from 2019-2023. So how did an era of this ideology come to an end in such a brutal way, losing to a candidate who rails against everything Peronism stands for?
The economic impact of Peronism has been terrible, inflation in November 2023 stood at 200%, the Argentinian peso was in freefall which meant prices abroad skyrocketed, and global institutions were unwilling to help as the country had defaulted on its debt numerous times already. Poverty stood at roughly 40%, and the government was paying out huge subsidies on gas and food which were unaffordable. Should they be stopped, they risked civil strife. These conditions meant that people looked towards the extremes, and in that they found this libertarian firebrand Javier Milei. His proposals of dismantling the welfare state, cutting government subsidies and the number of government departments by more than 50%, as well as introducing the private sector into traditionally public sector industries such as health and education have proved popular with a populace so desperate for economic prosperity that they will accept any means in order to achieve it. That is the crux of why such a radical shift in Argentinian politics has occurred, sheer desperation and a despair at the economic malaise that has plagued the Argentinian economy under the hands of those who deem themselves Peronists.
Now there lies Milei at the top of Argentine politics. Whether he will be able to achieve the more radical proposals he espoused within the election campaign remains to be seen. It seems unlikely that he will accomplish everything due to opposition with the Congress and Provinces, however, he has already introduced some form of shock therapy to the economy, attempting to open the doors of privatisation and deregulation to an economy not used to such free-market policies. For now, Argentinian politics has moved away from the ideology which has defined it for the past half-century. However, Peronism has returned from the gallows before. It could do so again.
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