The Neo-developmentalism Alternative: Capitalist crisis, popular movements, and economic development in Argentina since the 90s

Abstract

After the economic meltdown of 2001 Argentina appeared to enter a new period of sustainable economic growth and relative political stability. After the crisis, changes in public policies were so far-reaching that several authors have argued that Argentina underwent a transition from neoliberal rule to an altogether new period of neo-developmentalism.1 This chapter argues that while neo-developmentalism represents a break with neoliberalism in some respects, the changes in macroeconomic policies also express profound continuities with past neoliberal policies. Furthermore, any changes must be understood as the result of shifts in the correlation of political forces in the broader regional and international context, rather than a conscious policy ‘choice’ per se. The chapter is structured as follows. The first section discusses the dynamics of neoliberal rule and its crisis in Argentina between 1991 and 2001. The second section presents the main structural continuities of the current process in relation to earlier periods of neoliberal orthodoxy. The third section analyses the new political foundations of neo-developmentalism, while the following section discusses changes in public policies showing how they manifest the particular articulation of continuity and change. We finish our discussion with a few preliminary conclusions.