Challenging the Argentine Melting Pot: Peronism, Hispanidad, and Cultural Diversity

2022 ◽  
pp. 002200942110659
Author(s):  
Raanan Rein

On 12 October 1947, Argentine President, Juan Domingo Perón, used the events of the Hispanidad Day to extoll the Spanish heritage in Latin America. Within a few years, however, Perón well understood the futility of using Hispanidad as the basis of a new national consciousness for the Argentine immigrant society. Instead, he opted for a corporative mode of political representation under the aegis of the ‘organized community’. This model was designed to be of an inclusive nature and to offer space not only to different social groups, but also to the variety of ethnic and immigrant groups of Argentine society. This new concept of corporative citizenship facilitated a heightened recognition of collective rights, which manifested in the gradual integration of Argentines of Jewish, Arab, or Japanese origins in the political system, as well as that of indigenous peoples’ movements. By the early 1950s, Peronism had adopted a more inclusive perspective and began to demonstrate respect for all religions. Peronism aspired to confront the transgressions of the privileged few by protecting the rights of minorities and marginalized groups. Thus, it also challenged the traditional melting pot with its emphasis on White, European, and Christian Argentines.

Author(s):  
Roberta Rice

Indigenous peoples have become important social and political actors in contemporary Latin America. The politicization of ethnic identities in the region has divided analysts into those who view it as a threat to democratic stability versus those who welcome it as an opportunity to improve the quality of democracy. Throughout much of Latin America’s history, Indigenous peoples’ demands have been oppressed, ignored, and silenced. Latin American states did not just exclude Indigenous peoples’ interests; they were built in opposition to or even against them. The shift to democracy in the 1980s presented Indigenous groups with a dilemma: to participate in elections and submit themselves to the rules of a largely alien political system that had long served as an instrument of their domination or seek a measure of representation through social movements while putting pressure on the political system from the outside. In a handful of countries, most notably Bolivia and Ecuador, Indigenous movements have successfully overcome this tension by forming their own political parties and contesting elections on their own terms. The emergence of Indigenous peoples’ movements and parties has opened up new spaces for collective action and transformed the relationship between Indigenous peoples and the state. Indigenous movements have reinvigorated Latin America’s democracies. The political exclusion of Indigenous peoples, especially in countries with substantial Indigenous populations, has undoubtedly contributed to the weakness of party systems and the lack of accountability, representation, and responsiveness of democracies in the region. In Bolivia, the election of the country’s first Indigenous president, Evo Morales (2006–present) of the Movement toward Socialism (MAS) party, has resulted in new forms of political participation that are, at least in part, inspired by Indigenous traditions. A principal consequence of the broadening of the democratic process is that Indigenous activists are no longer forced to choose between party politics and social movements. Instead, participatory mechanisms allow civil society actors and their organizations to increasingly become a part of the state. New forms of civil society participation such as Indigenous self-rule broaden and deepen democracy by making it more inclusive and government more responsive and representative. Indigenous political representation is democratizing democracy in the region by pushing the limits of representative democracy in some of the most challenging socio-economic and institutional environments.


1968 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 261-269
Author(s):  
André Vachet

Division of power and social integrationExplanation of some of the recent challenges to western democracy may be found in a re-examination of Montesquieu's thought. Here we find the theory of the separation of power to be far more complex than is implied in the simple divisions of legislature, executive, and judiciary. For Montesquieu, the separation of power is more a social division than a political or juridical one. He contemplated returning the organs of political power to various social forces, e.g. monarchy, aristocracy, and bourgeoisie, and that then the self-assertion of forces would be restrained by the resistance of other social groups. The realization of its goals would require every important social group to integrate itself both to society and to the state and to seek its goals through realization of the general good.Since Montesquieu's time, political structures would seem to have been very little changed even though social structures have been greatly altered by the rise of economic powers. Political institutions have been losing touch with the vital forces of society and these have had to find other channels of expression. The personalization of power, the rise of the executive, violence, and increasing paternalism may be viewed as phenomena of compensation by which attempts are being made to bridge the gap between the structures of political power and those of a society which has been restructured.Revigoration of parliamentary democracy would seem to require that all vital social forces be reintegrated into the political system and be given meaningful channels of political expression. Failure to make such changes opens the way to identification of the political powers with technocracy and the increasing general use of violence in the resolution of social problems.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (57) ◽  
pp. 30-43
Author(s):  
Stanisław Bożyk

The purpose of this article is to evaluate or to determine the constitutional status of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland in the light of the basic principles of the political system. The position of the lower chamber of the Polish parliament is presented in turn against the backdrop of four principles: the sovereignty of the Nation, political representation, political pluralism, and the separation and balancing of powers. In the context of the latter principle, the relationship between the Sejm and the executive is also presented.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans Hermann Linscheid

Turkey has changed significantly since the AKP came to power in 2002. These changes affect the political system, political culture, the legal system, but also people's everyday lives. With this system transformation, a strong polarization of society can be observed. The question arises whether a more consensus-oriented, pluralistic system or a more authoritarian “majority democracy” has been created in the Republic of Turkey. When examining these questions, the author deals in particular with the parties, social groups, political culture and the causes, backgrounds and possible solutions to political and social conflicts.


2011 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 451-483 ◽  
Author(s):  
JAMES D. BOWEN

AbstractThis paper bridges the gap between studies of subaltern social movements and elite politics by asking how political and economic elites respond to indigenous mobilisation in Ecuador. I argue that elites have developed a hegemonic project based around three core principles – multiculturalism, economic liberalism and democracy – that serves to incorporate indigenous peoples into the political system while simultaneously excluding indigenous movement demands that would undermine the political and economic sources of elite power. The paper develops this argument around a concept of what I call ‘multicultural market democracy’ based on historical analysis and in-depth interviews with 43 Ecuadorian elites.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Simon Jackman ◽  
Bradley Spahn

ABSTRACT Campaigns, parties, interest groups, pollsters, and political scientists rely on voter-registration lists and consumer files to identify people as targets for registration drives, persuasion, and mobilization and to be included in sampling frames for surveys. We introduce a new category of Americans: the politically invisible—that is, people who are unreachable using these voter and marketing lists. Matching a high-quality, random sample of the US population to multiple lists reveals that at least 11% of the adult citizenry is unlisted. An additional 12% is mislisted (i.e., not living at their recorded address). These groups are invisible to list-based campaigns and research, making them difficult or impossible to contact. Two in five Blacks and (citizen) Hispanics are unreachable, but only 18% of whites. The unreachable are poorer than the reachable population, have markedly lower levels of political engagement, and are much less likely to report contact with candidates and campaigns. They are heavily Democratic in party identification and vote intention, favoring Obama versus Romney 73 to 27, with only 16% identifying as Republicans. That the politically invisible are more liberal and from historically marginalized groups shows that the turn to list-based campaigning and research could worsen existing biases in the political system.


Author(s):  
Leonida Tedoldi

This article rethinks the political and institutional causes of the rapid debt growth and its exploitation in the italian “blocked” political system (so-called “First Republic”). Italian State has always lived above its means, with a constant imbalance between income and expenditure and at the same time expanding its distance with respect to society (but the debt was paid by social groups that took advantage of it). This process triggered off a perennial crisis of representation and strengthened the instability of relations between political institutions and society. Therefore, sovereign debt downturns are always crises of institutional legitimization and require a redefinition of the ways in which sovereignty and power are exercised. Thus, the article investigates the impact of the “political use” of the public debt by governments on the relationship between the State and society.


Author(s):  
I.V. Kozych

In the article the author studies the functioning of criminal policy as a component of the political system of society. It is determined that the political system of any society is characterized by the presence of certain mechanisms that guarantee its stability and viability. An important element of this mechanism is the system of socio­political principles and norms, as well as traditions, morals, ethics of political life. The political system also includes a communication mechanism that ensures the direct and feedback of social groups and members of society with political power. With their help, social contradictions and conflicts are solved, efforts of various social groups, organizations and movements are coordinated, social relations are harmonized, consensus is reached on values, goals and directions of social development. The author supports the positions in the philosophical and political science literature that the political system is a real socio-political phenomenon that performs certain functions in society.


2020 ◽  
pp. 019251212094745 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Evans ◽  
Stefanie Reher

Around one-sixth of the European population have a disability, yet there are few self-declared disabled politicians. Despite scholarly and political interest in the under-representation of various social groups, little attention has been paid to disabled people. This article identifies and analyses the barriers to elected office faced by disabled people by drawing upon interviews with 51 candidates and elected politicians in the United Kingdom. It reveals barriers which occur throughout the political recruitment process, from initial participation to selection and the election campaign. They broadly fall into: (a) a lack of accessibility, including the built environment and documents; (b) a lack of resources to make events and activities accessible; and (c) ableism, including openly expressed prejudices but also a lack of awareness and willingness to make processes inclusive. While people with different impairments encounter some distinct barriers, all of them have similar experiences of obstacles and exclusion which go beyond those faced by people from other under-represented groups seeking elected office.


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