These two books, one a general study of the period since 1930, the other a collection of essays on the contemporary scene, will interest all who have followed the ups and downs (the downs, alas, outnumbering the ups) of recent times in Argentina. An intrinsic limitation affects the genre to which Edward C. Epstein’s symposium belongs: the subject matter is confined, for the most part, to very recent times (the decade since the Falklands/Malvinas war, as pedants and bureaucrats describe it), and recent times do not remain recent for very long. Such books tend to go stale rather quickly. This caveat notwithstanding, most of the essays here are very worthwhile.
Emilio Mignone’s piece on the church serves to remind us just how reactionary the Argentine hierarchy has been. A joint contribution from David Pion-Berlin and Ernesto López examines (not altogether pessimistically) the army’s complex role and prospects, while other essays point to the socially destabilizing effects of the “neoliberal” economic policies that have become the leitmotiv of the Menem presidency. This, indeed, is the fundamental Argentine dilemna of the 1990s so far, and it is not surprising that both these books speculate as to how easily the neoliberal model can be sustained in a democratic framework. (One possibility is that the Menem government might assume a not-too-visibly authoritarian character; signs of this are visible as of early 1994). As recent experience in both the United States and Great Britain indicates, there is generally good reason to be skeptical about the social effects of the comprehensive free-market approach.
Monica Peralta-Ramos’ neatly argued account of Argentina’s “political economy” (isn’t this term used a bit too loosely nowadays?) from the 1930s on—about half the book deals with the years after 1983—is constructed around two key themes: first, the notion of a recurrent “crisis of institutional legitimacy”; second, that of “an unrelenting struggle for the appropriation of income among the various classes and class fragments” (p. 1). I find her more persuasive on the latter than on the former. If the struggle over the national pie is at the root of Argentina’s long malaise, why has it been so unrelenting? Surely the answer lies in the demisecular deterioration of the economy. A solid and prolonged economic boom of the kind that occurred from the 1880s to the 1920s might do wonders to soften the conflicts Peralta-Ramos depicts. It would certainly fend off the “social explosion” she evidently fears. The recent figures for growth and inflation look very good. But figures, as we know, are nothing like the whole story. Ever.
