VI.

Government

According to the constitution of 1853, Argentina is a federal republic headed by a president. Legislative powers are vested in a National Congress consisting of a Senate and a Chamber of Deputies. All citizens 18 years of age or older are entitled to vote. The 1853 constitution has been revised on several occasions.

Since 1930 Argentina’s democratic institutions have been rescinded or suspended during different periods of authoritarian rule. In 1949 the constitution of 1853 was replaced by one devised by the government of Juan Perón. Under the Peronist constitution the president’s powers were enlarged, the provincial governors were made agents of the president, and the legislature and judiciary were reduced to impotence. After Perón was overthrown in 1955, the 1853 constitution was reinstituted. However, as before Perón, several subsequent leaders suspended or disregarded provisions of the constitution that interfered with their goals. The military junta that took power in 1976 also incorporated a number of extraordinary laws into the constitution.

In 1983, when democratic political life was restored in Argentina, the 1853 constitution was once again reinstituted in essentially its original form. A constituent assembly, agreed to by the main political parties in the congress, was held in 1994 for the purpose of introducing a number of reforms to the original 1853 charter.

A.

Executive

Prior to the 1994 constitutional reforms, the president and vice-president were chosen for a six-year term—with no possibility of immediate reelection—by an electoral college whose members were elected by popular vote. The president and vice president are now elected directly by popular vote for a four-year term with the option of seeking immediate reelection for one period only. The 1994 reforms also placed limitations on certain presidential prerogatives concerning decrees, and strengthened the roles of the legislature and judiciary in relation to the president.

The president appoints a cabinet of ministers to head executive departments. The president enacts the laws and may participate in drawing up legislation. The president also serves as the commander in chief of the armed forces.

B.

Legislature

The National Congress consists of a lower chamber (the 257-member Chamber of Deputies) and an upper chamber (the 72-member Senate). Deputies are elected by the people to four-year terms through a system of proportional representation. Each province has three senators with one-third of the senators elected every two years to six-year terms. Two of these senators are directly elected and the third represents the province’s largest minority party. Three senators represent the city of Buenos Aires.

C.

Judiciary

The judicial system in Argentina is headed by the Supreme Court, which has nine judges. Other federal courts in Argentina include the appellate courts, and district and territorial courts. Supreme Court judges and other federal judges hold lifetime appointments and cannot be removed except through impeachment by Congress. The federal courts have the power of judicial review over constitutional issues. The president appoints federal judges, subject to confirmation by the Senate. The provincial court systems are organized similarly to the federal system and consist of supreme, appellate, and lower courts.

D.

Local Government

Argentina comprises 23 provinces; the City of Buenos Aires, which is an autonomous federal district; and the Argentine-claimed sector of Antarctica and several South Atlantic islands.

The provinces are grouped into five major areas: the Pampas, or Littoral, provinces, comprising the provinces of Buenos Aires (which is a separate entity from the city of the same name), Córdoba, Entre Ríos, La Pampa, and Santa Fe; the Northwest provinces, comprising Catamarca, Jujuy, Salta, Santiago del Estero, and Tucumán; the Northeast provinces, comprising Chaco, Corrientes, Formosa, and Misiones; the Andes, or Cuyo, provinces, comprising La Rioja, Mendoza, San Juan, and San Luis; and the Patagonian provinces, comprising Chubut, Neuquén, Río Negro, Santa Cruz, and Tierra del Fuego.

Under the constitution, the provinces of Argentina elect their own governors and legislatures by popular vote. The City of Buenos Aires, which is an autonomous federal district, has a popularly elected mayor and legislature.

E.

Political Parties

Throughout the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries, Argentina was one of the few nations in Latin America with well-established and fully functioning political parties. However, between 1930 and 1983 the armed forces were a much more powerful factor in Argentine politics than any political party. Almost all of Argentina’s governments during this period were directly military or military backed, and almost all changes in government resulted from military coups d’etat rather than competitive elections. In 1982, after the Argentine armed forces suffered a humiliating defeat in a war with Great Britain, political parties regained the right to function freely in preparation for national elections in 1983.

The oldest political party in Argentina is the Unión Cívica Radical (UCR), or Radical Party, which was founded in 1890. The other major party is the Partitido Justicialista (PJ), also called the Justicialist or Peronist Party, which was founded in 1945 by military leader Juan Perón. Traditionally, the UCR has represented the middle class, and the PJ has drawn its support from the urban working class, but both parties today have much broader support. Until the 1990s, when the PJ began to embrace free-market economics, the Peronists were known as a fiercely nationalistic party that exalted the memory of their founder. Argentina also has a number of smaller parties and parties that represent particular provinces.

F.

Health and Welfare

The National Institute of Social Welfare has administered most Argentine welfare programs since its founding in 1944. Labor unions provide health insurance for medical services to its members, while other people receive medical care from free hospital clinics. Medical standards are relatively high in the major cities, and efforts are constantly being made to improve medical facilities in rural areas. The government has privatized many health-care facilities since 1990, and it is generally withdrawing from providing major social welfare services.

G.

Defense

The Argentine military establishment is one of the most modern and best equipped in Latin America and has historically played a prominent, and often controversial, role in national affairs. Drastic cuts in military spending in the 1990s, however, prompted Argentina’s armed forces to initiate a number of profit-making ventures to raise money, including offering tours of Patagonia on navy ships. Military conscription was abolished in 1995. In 2004 the army had 41,400 troops. The navy had a strength of 17,500. The air force had about 12,500 members in uniform.