Antecedents of the argentine presidentialism: its historical-political origins

Abstract

Abstract: Since Juan Linz installed the debate between presidentialism and parliamentarism in Latin America 40 years ago, much has been written about the relative advantages of one political system over another, in which the presidential system generally appears discredited. This entry will reflect on presidentialism in the Argentine constitutional design. It will be postulated that this system is part of the Argentine political tradition and recognizes as antecedents the authoritarian local leaders called “caudillos” and the influences of the “charismatic domination” that prevailed in Argentina especially in the nineteenth century, hypothesis based on political, institutional, economic, social, and cultural issues. The conclusions will propose that the presidential system should be maintained instead of being uncritically replaced by a parliamentary system, since it is part of Argentine practice, and, in any case, must be improved through adequate reform.