Part of the Politics series |
Populism |
---|
![]() |
History of Argentina |
---|
![]() |
![]() |
Peronism,[a] also known as justicialism,[b] is an Argentine ideology and movement based on the ideas, doctrine and legacy of Argentine ruler Juan Perón (1895–1974).[1] It has been an influential movement in 20th- and 21st-century Argentine politics.[1] Since 1946, Peronists have won 10 out of the 14 presidential elections in which they have been allowed to run.[2] Peronism is defined through its three flags, which are: “Economic Independence” (an economy that does not depend on other countries by promoting its national industry), “Social Justice” (the fight against socioeconomic inequalities) and “Political Sovereignty” (the non-interference of foreign powers in the domestic affairs of the country).
Nationalism is an essential part of Peronism, pushing for a sense of national pride among Argentines.[1] However, it promotes an inclusive form of nationalism that embraces all ethnicities and races as integral parts of the nation, distinguishing it from racial or chauvinistic ethno-nationalism that prioritizes a single ethnic group.[3] This is because of the ethnically heterogeneous background of Argentina, which is a result of the mixing between indigenous peoples, Criollos, the various immigrant groups and their descendants.[4] Likewise, Peronism is generally considered populist, since it needs the figure of a leader (originally occupied by Perón) to lead the masses.[1] Thus, Peronism adopts a third position in the context of the Cold War and in the economic dichotomy between liberalism and Marxism, expressed in the phrase: "we are neither Yankees nor Marxists".
Peronism has taken both conservative and progressive measures. Among those conservative elements are its fierce anti-communism[5] that was later abandoned,[6] strong patriotism, the military background of Perón and the sanction of the law 12,978 on Catholic teaching in public schools.[7] While some progressive measures include the expansion of workers' rights, the adoption of women's suffrage,[8] free tuition for public universities and a failed attempt to sanction the divorce law after the breakdown of relations with the church.[9][7]
Argentina under Perón espoused corporatism, as it tried to encompass the different sectors of society in multiple organizations: workers were represented by the General Confederation of Labour (CGT), national Peronist businessmen by the General Economic Confederation, landowners by the Argentine Agrarian Federation, women by the Female Peronist Party, Jews by the Argentine Israelite Organization, students by the Secondary Student Union, etcetera.[10] This way, trade unions have been incorporated into Peronism's structure, and remain a key part of the movement today.[11] Economically, it mediated tensions between classes, with the ministry of labour being responsible for uniting capitalists and workers by directly negotiating compromises between them.[12]
Due to this great confluence of ideas, Peronism is frequently located in the center of the political spectrum, sometimes in the center-right or center-left depending on the criteria used.[1] Prominent political scientists such as Seymour Martin Lipset and David Collier classified Peronism as left-wing populism; Lipset argued that Peronism was "based on the social strata who would otherwise turn to socialism or communism as an outlet for their frustrations",[13] while Collier noted Perón's redistributive economic policies and the fact that Peronism constituted a "dramatic shift away from earlier patterns of state-labor relations to one in which the government dramatically sided with the working class".[14] Perón himself called his ideology "Christian national socialism", described as a form of socialism based on Christian rather than the Marxist doctrine.[15]
Perón became Argentina's labour secretary after participating in the 1943 military coup and was elected president of Argentina in 1946.[1][16] He introduced social programs that benefited the working class,[17] supported labor unions and called for additional involvement of the state in the economy.[1] In addition, he supported industrialists in an effort to facilitate harmony between labor and capital.[2] Perón was very popular due to his leadership, and gained even more admiration through his wife Eva, who championed for the rights of migrant workers, the poor, and women, whose suffrage is partially due to Eva's involvement, until her death by cancer in 1952.[18] Due to economic problems and political repression, the military overthrew Perón[19] and banned the Justicialist Party in 1955;[19] it was not until 1973 that open elections were held again in which Perón was re-elected president by 62%.[1] Perón died in the following year, opening the way for his widow and vice president Isabel to succeed the presidency.[1]
Perón's death left an intense power vacuum and the military promptly overthrew Isabel in 1976.[1] Since the return to democracy in 1983, Peronist candidates have won several general elections. The candidate for Peronism, Carlos Menem, was elected in 1989 and served for two consecutive terms until 1999. Although Menem distanced from the traditional Peronist policies, focusing on the adoption of free-market policies,[1] the privatization of state run enterprises,[2] and establishing friendly relations with the United States.[2] After the De La Rúa administration (1999-2001) collapsed, four interim Peronist leaders took over between 2001 and 2003 due to political turmoil of the Argentine Great Depression. After coming to power in the 2003 Argentine general election, Néstor Kirchner restructured the Justicialist platform in a manner aimed to turn it towards a progressist center-left stance and advanced social democratic interpretations of Peronism, following its long detour to free-market capitalism under Carlos Menem".[20] Kirchner served for only one term, while his wife, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, served two (having been elected in 2007 and re-elected in 2011), and from 2019 until 2023 was the vice president with Alberto Fernández as president,[1] until the election of right-wing libertarian Javier Milei in the 2023 Argentine presidential election. As of 2023[update], Peronists have held the presidency in Argentina for 39 total years.
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha>
tags or {{efn}}
templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}}
template or {{notelist}}
template (see the help page).
En ambas, Perón parecía responder a pedidos de acercamiento a posiciones marxistas, decía estar de acuerdo en que "el marxismo no sólo no está en contradicción con el Movimiento Peronista, sino que lo complementa", y justificaba posiciones sostenidas en el pasado al afirmar que su distancia era con la "ortodoxia" comunista, a la que se ha visto "al lado de la oligarquía o del brazo de Braden".[In both, Perón would respond to calls for rapprochement with Marxist positions, agreeing that ‘Marxism is not only not in contradiction with the Peronist Movement, but complements it’, and justifying his past positions by stating that his distance was from the communist ‘orthodoxy’, which had been seen to be ‘on the side of the oligarchy or Braden's arm’.]
lipset173-176
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).bren1011
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).