Australia and the World Past and Present

Peronism has been the dominant political force in Argentina in the post-war period.

Its founder, Juan Perón, died in 1974.

There was always a question whether Peronism would outlive Perón and if so, the form it would take.

Peronism is a wide umbrella containing many different influences and factions.

Recent presidents, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and Alberto Fernández are recent examples of modern Peronism.

The two shared many things. Still, there were differences. Even though the two come from a similar political tradition, differences emerged in how to deal with pressing issues. There were also differences in personality and leadership styles.

Both align with left-wing Peronism. Both embrace strong state intervention and both utilise the rhetoric of social justice.

Their two administrations looked to defend the working classes, preserve national sovereignty and oppose neo-liberalism.

Kirchner was more prepared to engage in ideological confrontation with political opponents.

She is known for her strong, populist rhetoric.

She could be combative and as a result, she tended to polarise the electorate. Some idolised her – others hated her. She produced strong emotions in people.

Cristina had a preference for an active state with strong executive power.

Alberto was a more moderate figure.

He was a political conciliator.

In the lead up to taking Argentina’s highest office, it appeared that his administration would be more technocratic than previous governments.

He had a reputation as a consensus builder.

He tried to put his own stamp on government but with Cristina as his vice president, many suspected that she was acting as a puppet master who was pulling strings behind the scenes.

Kirchner’s time as president coincided with a global commodities boom. Argentina’s exports were doing well.

Argentina experienced economic growth in the early stage of her presidency.

However, this was followed by rising inflation, fiscal deficits and the depletion of the nation’s foreign exchange reserves.

Alberto Fernández inherited a troubled economy from Mauricio Macri.

Fernández was forced to contend with a large debt burden. Inflation was also high. He was able to renegotiate the country’s foreign debt.

Then COVID-19 hit.

Fernández brought in emergency subsidies (IFE). This measure was supposed to help those outside the formal labour market to ride out Argentina’s strict lockdown. The payment lasted from April to September 2020. The Argentinian economy was contracting. In 2018, GDP fell by 2.6% and in 2019 it fell another 2%. COVID-19 turbocharged the contraction of the economy with the country losing a whopping 10% of GDP. One of the key aims of the IFE policy was to keep a substantial proportion of Argentinians out of poverty.

Fernández had to play a worse hand of cards than Kirchner.

His presidency was more reactive and crisis-driven.

What was Kirchner’s legacy? In 2009 she brought in her Universal Child Allowance for families without formal employment. Part of the rationale for the program was to increase school attendance. The 2010 same-sex marriage bill was passed while Kirchner was in power.

Fernandez also pursued social change and in 2020 abortion was legalised.

Kirchner dominated the Justicialist Party more than Fernandez did.

He came to government by making a coalition with the Frente de Todos – essentially a collection of Peronist factions.

Kirchner’s economic model was unsustainable. She also alienated business.

Fernández’ time in government came to be associated with economic instability and internal political dysfunction. He avoided default on Argentina’s foreign debt obligations but couldn’t put out all of the fires in the country’s economy.

Kirchner was more ideological and her government more centralised while Fernández was more cautious.

The Kirchner and Fernández administrations were both examples of modern Peronist governments. Both were from the left-wing of the movement.

They both had to deal with the particular conditions in which they found themselves. Often these forces were economic – economic contraction, unemployment, inflation and external debt.

When two people come from such a similar political tradition, their personality traits often move to the fore and we can see that Kirchner was much more forceful than Fernández was.