
Argentina under the Kirchners
The legacy of left populism
Series: Latin America Bureau Special Report
Published: 2017
Pages: 80
eBook: 9781909014084
Paperback: 9781909014053
Néstor was one half of a political couple -- his wife Cristina Fernández de Kirchner won the race for the top job in 2007 and they swapped roles. In 2011 she was voted in for a second term with the highest support ever obtained in a presidential election. And yet in 2015 she was voted out on vague promises of ‘change’.
During the Kirchners’ administrations inequality had fallen, per capita income had nearly doubled, the economy had grown as never before – so what did people want to change? Why did they vote for the first ever democratically elected right-wing government? How was society torn apart into two vitriolic and equal opposing halves?
The legacy of Kirchnerism offers key lessons for progressive politics everywhere – and points to the challenges of taking on resurgent conservative forces in Argentina and around the world.
Marcela Lopez Levy
Marcela Lopez Levy works as a researcher and editor at the Latin America Bureau in London.