Argentina: an informal Italy does not work
Crises mean changes, and Argentina is a good example of it, we have news every day, or week, either the appointment of a new Cabinet or new measures that last for a few days. We have now a new superminister of the Economy as Alberto Fernández appointed Sergio Massa as minister of the Economy, Production and Agriculture.
A lot has been said about the economic problems the country is facing, but it seems to me there is a political-institutional problem in the back of it. I believe it is the following:
Argentina has a constitutional regime based on a strong presidency and although it had several political parties, it used to work almost as a bipartisan regime, the president was either a Peronist or a Radical, intercepted both of them by military regimes. Again, even though there were several parties, it worked as a two-party system.
And now? Again, we have several political parties but it looks like a bipartisan system with a government and an opposition. The difference is that what we have are not “parties” but “coalitions”. The Peronists are not a unified party and the main opposition is also a coalition.
A configuration like that would work in a Parliamentary system, like in Italy?, for example, and may not be really stable. It is making a lot of noise in Argentina because it is a coalition regime under a presidential system. What I mean is that the present crisis, under a typical parliamentary system would have meant the demise of the Fernández government until a new coalition forged a majority to nominate a primer minister.
But that does not happen in Argentina. Parliament, or Congress in fact, does not play such a role and a reconfiguration of a governmental coalition takes place in an informal way, through secret deals and negotiations among the political leaders of the governing coalition. Therefore, formally the president is running the country but in fact decisions are taken through informal negotiations between Cristina Kirchner, Sergio Massa and Alberto Fernández. In a Parliamentary regime this would happen in the open and everybody would know how many members of Congress each faction has and can bring to any coalition.
Now, something similar happens with the opposition with the exception of the growing libertarian leader Javier Milei. The other opposition is also a coalition of different parties, groups and leaders, not a unified party. It does not have a unified command. Therefore, this is not a Republican Party versus a Democratic Pary, fit for a presidential regime; it is two informal coalitions system imposed over a presidential structure.
The mix is not working. What we have is an informal Italy, not the best political recipe. An Italian regime with an American constitution.