Kirchnerism


Kirchnerism is an Argentine political movement based on populist ideals formed by the supporters of the late Néstor Kirchner, Governor of Santa Cruz, President of Argentina and First Gentleman and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Deputy, Senator, First Lady, President of Argentina and Vice President of Argentina since 2019. Although the Kirchners are members of the Justicialist Party, many Peronists oppose them. Kirchnerism is generally considered to fall into the category of left-wing populism.
in formal presidential attire, including the presidential sceptre, while husband and former President Néstor Kirchner stands behind her
Although originally a faction in the Justicialist Party, Kirchnerism later received support from other smaller Argentine political parties and from factions of some traditional parties. In parties which are divided along Kirchnerist/Anti-Kirchnerist lines, the members of the Kirchnerist faction are often distinguished with the letter K while the anti-Kirchnerist factions, those opposing Kirchnerism, are similarly labelled with the expression "anti-K".

Characteristics

Both Kirchner and Fernández come from the left-wing of Peronism and both began their political careers as members of the Peronist Youth. Many of the Kirchners' closest allies belong to the Peronist left. Anti-Kirchnerists often criticize this ideological background with the term setentista, suggesting that Kirchnerism is overly influenced by the populist struggle of the 1970s.

Five Economic Tenets

According to Alberto Fernández, Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers during the first 5 years of Kirchnerism, they followed five tenets regarding the economy, which explained the perceived early success of the movement:
  1. "Take no measures that increase the fiscal deficit"
  2. "Take no measures that increase the trade deficit"
  3. "Accumulate reserves in the central bank"
  4. "Keep the exchange rate very high to stay competitive and favor exports"
  5. "Pay off the external debt and do not acquire new debt"
According to him, after Néstor Kirchner died, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner moved away from these five tenets, causing an economic crisis that resulted in the first political defeat of Kirchnerism in a presidential election in 2015.

Transversalism

Unlike his predecessor Eduardo Duhalde, Kirchner was a Peronist that distrusted the Justicialist Party as a support for his government. He proposed instead a "transversalist" policy, seeking the support of progressive politicians regardless of their party. Thus he got support from factions of the Justicialist Party, the Radical Civic Union and small centre-left parties.
Kirchner neglected the internal politics of the Justicialist Party and kept instead the Front for Victory party, which was initially an electoral alliance in his home province of Santa Cruz and in the 2003 elections premiered in the federal political scene. Some politicians favored by this policy were Aníbal Ibarra, mayor of Buenos Aires for the Broad Front and supported as Kirchnerist; and Julio Cobos, governor of Mendoza for the UCR and elected as Vice President of Fernández de Kirchner in 2007.
The transversalist project was eventually dismissed. Kirchner took control of the Justicialist Party and some "Radicales K", slowly returned to the "anti-K" faction of their party, most notably Vice President Julio Cobos and Governor of Catamarca province Eduardo Brizuela del Moral, while other very prominent Radical politicians remained in the "K" wing of the Radical Civic Union such as provincial governors Gerardo Zamora of Santiago del Estero, Ricardo Colombi of Corrientes and Miguel Saiz of Río Negro.

Criticism

Kirchnerism has encountered opposition from various sectors of Argentine society, which tend to criticize its personalism.
In 2012, there was a massive anti-Kirchnerism protest in several cities within Argentina and also in several Argentinian embassies around the world. It became known as 8N.
In 2015, when Foreign Policy was discussing corruption in Latin America it was stated that:
The viceroys of the colonial era set the pattern. They centralised power and bought the loyalty of local interest groups. Caudillos, dictators and elected presidents continued the tradition of personalising power. Venezuela's chavismo and the kirchnerismo of Ms Fernández are among today’s manifestations.
In an editorial published in October 2015, The Economist expressed the following view about the situation in Argentina:
Argentina needs change. As Ms Fernández slips out of office the economy is starting to crumble. Currency controls and trade restrictions are choking productivity; inflation hovers at around 25%. Argentina cannot seek external financing until it ends its standoff with creditors who rejected a debt-restructuring plan. Unless the new president quickly reverses Ms Fernández’s populist policies, a crisis is inevitable"

Bibliographies