Abstract

MESSINA, Giuseppe Manuel. The Unaccomplished Alternative: Progressive Policies, Structural Heterogeneity and Welfare Regime Fragmentation in Argentina, 2003-2015. E&c [online]. 2018, vol.1, n.6, pp.73-97. ISSN 2477-9245.  https://doi.org/10.37228/estado_comunes.v1.n6.2018.70.

This paper discusses the limits of the reformist action in Argentine social policy under the Kirchnerist governments (2003-2015). In my view, this case study provides interesting evidence to the wider debate on the Latin American progressive cycle of the beginning of the XXI century, particularly on the weaknesses of left alternatives to neoliberalism. It is true that during the commodity boom the Argentine government took measures for the reconstruction of the institutions of the salaried society such as the contributory Social Security. Nevertheless, I consider that this remained an unfinished process due to persistent labor market heterogeneities. To face this problem, the government expanded non-contributory social protection transfer programs, but this resulted in more fragmentation of social policy into multiple schemes for each individual, according to their income and the quality of their employment. This paper argues that these contradictory results were caused by the continuity in the regime of accumulation of capital. This feature provoked an imbalance in the Argentine Welfare Regime through its effects on the functioning of the labor market. As a consequence, it was impossible to fully restore traditional Social Security institutions affected by the preceding neoliberal reforms of the nineties.

Keywords : Argentina; Kirchnerism; Labor market; Social Policy; Social Security; Welfare Regime.

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