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The Unevenness of Democracy at the Subnational Level: Provincial Closed Games in Argentina

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2022

Jacqueline Behrend
Jacqueline Behrend*
Affiliation:
Universidad Nacional de San Martín and Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
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Abstract

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Democratization studies initially focused on processes at the national level, but in recent years, there has been a growing interest in the spatially uneven nature of democracy at, the subnational level This article draws on examples from Argentina and develops an analytical framework of closed games to analyze the functioning of subnational democracy. It argues that the less democratic provinces or states of nationally democratic countries are not necessarily authoritarian and that the concept of subnational authoritarianism prevents us from seeing political dynamics that may arise in the context of a reasonably well-functioning electoral democracy and may result in subnational closed games. The article takes into account the role of political families, media ownership, control of access to business opportunities, and control of the provincial state.

Resumen

Resumen

Los estudios sobre la democratización inicialmente se centraron en los procesos a nivel nacional, pero en los últimos años, ha habido un mayor interés en la naturaleza espacialmente despareja de la democracia a nivel subnacional. Este trabajo se basa en ejemplos de la Argentina y desarrolla el marco analítico del juego cerrado para analizar el funcionamiento de la democracia subnacional. Argumenta que las provincias o estados menos democráticos en países democráticos a nivel nacional no son necesariamente autoritarios y que el concepto de autoritarismo subnacional no nos permite ver las dinámicas políticas que pueden surgir en el contexto de una democracia electoral que funciona razonablemente bien y que puede resultar en juegos cerrados a nivel subnacional. El trabajo toma en cuenta el rol de las familias políticas, la propiedad de los medios de comunicación, el control del acceso a oportunidades de negocios y el control del estado provincial.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 46 , Issue 1 , 2011 , pp. 150 - 176
Copyright
Copyright ©2011 by the Latin American Studies Association

Footnotes

This article is based on my doctoral dissertation at the University of Oxford (2008). It is also part of a broader research project on subnational democratization in comparative perspective funded by a Mellon-Latin American Studies Association grant. I am very grateful to Laurence Whitehead for his encouragement, support, and insightful comments. Earlier versions of this article were presented at the International Political Science Association Congress in Santiago, Chile, July 12–16, 2009, and at the seminar “Nuevos estudios sobre el federalismo argentino,” Buenos Aires, Universidad Torcuato Di Telia, November 2009, where I received very helpful comments. I thank André Borges, Marcelo Leiras, Lorena Moscovich, Catalina Smulovitz, and Juan Carlos Torre for comments on earlier versions, and the three anonymous LARR reviewers for their helpful feedback.

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