Exploring Subnational Stateness in the Argentine Provinces

• In Event: Recentralisation and Electoral Preferences at the Subnational Level

Abstract

This paper aims to develop a conceptual framework to understand the different provincial states that emerge from the various types of capitalism at the subnational level in Argentina. Argentina is a highly decentralized federal country and provinces have a great deal of administrative and constitutional autonomy. As a result, the infrastructural powers and state capacities of the different provinces vary greatly. In view of this, the paper seeks to answer the following questions: how does the provincial state engage with the economic actors that operate in its territory? For example, what are the political implications of a provincial economy based on soybean production as compared to an oil-exporting or a service-oriented provincial economy? What explains variations in the outcomes of provinces with a similar economic structure? For example, why do some mining provinces fare better than others? And, ultimately, how do these state-society relations affect the quality of subnational democracy? This paper aims to address these theoretical concerns through an empirical analysis of the economic structure of Argentine provinces, their institutional variations and their differing state-society relations. The paper will therefore map the economic structure of all 24 provinces, identify the main economic actors and develop a preliminary typology of state-society relations in the Argentine provinces through a state-in-society approach.

Author

• Jacqueline Behrend, Universidad Nacional de San Martín / CONICET