Fake News, Conspiracy Theories, and New Media

Plan Andinia and Anti-Semitism in Argentina

Cuneo’s oral manifesto went viral across multiple platforms, such as What’s App, Facebook, YouTube, and endless email chains, sparking a public debate over Argentinean Jews’ sacred and exclusive loyalty towards Israel. Pro-Cuneo posts offered many cases of public figures, all of them Jewish, that were Mossad double agents or involved ...
Read More

Feminism, Elections, and Beyond

On the effects of the green wave in Argentina

When people from other latitudes ask us how we managed to achieve such mobilized feminisms, we have no other choice but to trace our history. The massive mobilization for Ni Una Menos in 2015 surprised us, but to prevent that energy from dissipating, the feminists that had been struggling for ...
Read More

Stormy Times in Argentina

A View from Buenos Aires

The core of this article was written a week before the results of the primary elections on August 11, which massively rejected the national economic and social policies implemented by current President Mauricio Macri, as demonstrated by the 15 point spread between the victorious Alberto Fernandez and Macri. These primary ...
Read More

A Stormy Affair with the Dollar

A long history of devaluations matters for Argentina’s elections

On March 31st, 2019, the Argentinean football league crowned a new champion. Among the many posts on social media that commented on the event, one tweet asked: “how much was the dollar [in Argentinean pesos] the last time your team won the league?” and listed the value of the American ...
Read More

The Problem with “Neoliberalism”

Neoliberalism is polarizing the 2019 elections. Does it capture Argentina’s predicament?

I argue neoliberalism has become a shorthand whose usage does more harm than good. There are three (non-exhaustive) reasons why it is a problematic frame to understand Argentina’s predicament. First, neoliberalism is a concept that over-simplifies multi-causal processes into a narrative frame presented as a coherent whole. It creates an “us ...
Read More

When Debt Matters

Argentina’s new debt trap and the return of the IMF

Because of its long-term effect, one of the most important negative effects of Macri’s failed policy has been the dramatic rise of the relevant public debt, which is debt denominated in foreign currency and held by the private sector and international organisms. This debt has gone from 73 to 172 ...
Read More

Assessing the Macri Legacy

How four years of economic policy matter for the upcoming elections

One of the most critical decisions that started this downward spiral was Macri’s rollback of “retenciones” or taxes on agricultural exports, primarily soy, that had been increased during the government of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in 2008. This reduction in public revenue of about US$2 billion a year immediately ...
Read More

What is at Stake in Argentina’s Elections

A Series

Beyond the economic debates animating the campaign (between Macri’s more restricted business-friendly form of the welfare state, and Fernandez’ mirror opposite: a sovereigntist, Keynesian Industrial Policy focused narrative), the campaign invokes debates about social justice and national sovereignty. For historical reasons, the Fernandez ticket links the presence and activity of ...
Read More