Cycles of legitimacy and delegitimation across regimes in Argentina, 1900–2008

Abstract

If we define a crisis of political legitimacy in a nation as one that occurs when sizeable portions of the politically relevant population challenge or deny the normative validity of claims to authority made by its existing leadership, then Argentina has experienced at least seven such legitimacy crises in the past hundred years. The causes of these crises include the actions of political leaders, political institutions that have proven inadequate to the demands made upon them, frustrated economic growth and an inability of groups to compromise on mutually acceptable solutions. Survey data since 1984 show that Argentinians have consistently had much less confidence in the basic institutions of their society than have citizens in the rest of Latin America and in the world as a whole. Moreover, confidence in most institutions dropped precipitously between 1984 and 2006. Although Argentinians show low interest in politics and trust family members far more than outsiders, most of them still find that democracy is the best form of government for their country. In the future, some of the best ways to enhance political legitimacy in Argentina include increasing the efficiency of political institutions, limiting corruption and – perhaps most important of all – assuring that economic prosperity is maintained and that hard work is rewarded.