The Perils Of Polarization & How The Fabric Of Democracy Is Tearing Apart In Argentina

The distance between what politicians say in public and their actions is incredibly large, and it’s not clear whether this is a prerequisite or a consequence of the profession. In Argentina, most major political leaders agree in public that, without some sort of basic consensus, the country’s socio-economic project is untenable. Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, current vice-president and one of the most powerful people in the country, had asked for something like the “Moncloa Pacts,” which were a cornerstone of Spain’s transition from the fascism of Francisco Franco to the moderate and successful social democracy that it is today. President Alberto Fernández was conjured by Cristina to lead a friendly pan-Peronist Frente de Todos that would integrate rather than expel. Mauricio Macri built his successful 2015 presidential bid on ideas of empathy and dialogue. His coalition was ultimately branded Juntos por el Cambio (“juntos” means together in Spanish). Buenos Aires City Mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, who currently leads the polls and expects to arrive at next year’s elections as a competitive candidate, has built his public image on being an able manager and a seeker of dialogue. Even Sergio Massa, a key actor in the ruling Frente de Todos coalition who is always playing to his own benefit, has sought out consensus across party lines, as he did to win the approval of the 2023 Budget in the Chamber of Deputies.

As the draft budget bill laid bare at that time, the last thing we are seeing in the Argentine political field of play is true dialogue, consensus building and an aspiration to overcome polarization. We are living in the era of the “grieta” squared – that is, a double polarization that antagonistically pits both major coalitions against each other, while internally seeing them become deeply divided into hawks and doves.