Suchergebnisse

GHIŢA IONESCU'S HOMELAND IS ONE OF THE MOST TROUBLED NATIONS in Europe. Its wounded national feeling has produced the strangest ideological combinations, mixing freely a fascist past with nostalgia for Ceausescu, as is the case with the Vatra Romaneasca (Romanian Homeland) movement, or the editors of the influential journalRomania Mare, adept at denouncing the 'international Judaeo- Zionist-capitalist' plot. One of the main theoreticians of corporatism, as is well known, was Mihail Manoilescu, while another Romanian intellectual, Ilie Badescu, created the 'protocronist' school of sociology, bent on documenting cultural and scientific findings in Romania which had anticipated later Western European developments. This approach was adopted officially during the Ceausescu regime, and now inspires some extreme right-wing groups which espouse a radical nationalist ideology. One of them, the Party of the National Right, admits to not being democratic, but compensates for this by proclaiming its 'demophilia', that is, its love for the people, a concept created by Petre Tutea, an admirer of the Iron Guard interwar fascist movement.

During the last fifty years Argentina has experienced a horrendous sequence of civil & civil-military confrontations, often caused by antagonism between economic groups. After the crises associated with the nation's "bureaucratic-authoritarian" experiences 1962-1983, Argentinians are having the rare experience of changing the ruling party by ballot & having cash in their pockets. It is suggested that the present economic recovery is primarily the outcome of the changed political & social climate that followed from President Menem's decision, before assuming office, to make a deal with the economic establishment so as to pacify the country. Further, the Peronista leadership is undergoing a thorough change, although there is a great deal to improve on given entrenched corruption & old habits. The continued prevalence of the rule of law has permitted the free play of public opinion & of the judiciary, so that scandals are exposed & often corrected. It is concluded that if Argentina enters the First World it should develop a political system that more closely resembles that of Western European or North American nations. S. Millett

STRANGE AS IT MAY SEEM, ARGENTINIANS ARE SLOWLY getting accustomed to stability, both economic and political, and to a guarded optimism about their future. Not that optimism is difficult to come by in these shores. On the contrary, despite melancholy tango lyrics, national spirits are quite ready to rocket to the skies, only to fall with greater momentum from those heights at the next difficulty. What is new is not optimism, but its guarded, and I would say for once justified nature.

The presidency of Carlos Menem, elected 14 May 1989, is examined as a possible vehicle for democratization & pluralism in Argentina. It is suggested that Menem's alliance with elements of Peronism & a rapidly declining economic situation offered the opportunity to oust left-leaning politicians who were unable to generate public confidence & who lacked the necessary contacts with the military & the Church. Conclusions allay fears about the resurgence of militant Peronism, arguing that the Peronists now have discarded their fascist origins & that their trade union base gives them firm roots in the economy. Given the disastrous state of the Argentinian economy, it is suggested that corporatism will bring about recovery. L. Baker

On 14 May, 1989, Argentinians Elected The Peronist Carlos Menem as president, causing the first constitutional transfer of power to the opposition since 1916. The situation is so unfamiliar that quite a few Peronists are behaving in their newly acquired positions, particularly in some cultural and mass communication spheres, as though the change had been the result of a violent takeover. After all, the first Peronism was heralded by the nationalist military coup of 1943, and its second coming, in 1973, was the result of a combined strategy of electioneering and guerrilla tactics. Those were the days when many Peronists repeated Mao Tse-tung's dictum that 'power comes from the barrel of a gun', and such intellectual habits die hard. Culturally the authoritarian components are still strong in Peronism, partly because most of the progressive, liberal or left-of-centre intelligentsia have flocked to the Radicales or to small leftist parties, renouncing their sympathies of the late 1960s and early 1970s, when they thought Peronism was the harbinger of revolution, owing to its working-class composition. This, of course, creates a cultural vacuum in Peronism, which has to be filled by whoever comes or remains from the old days. However, many things have changed in the Argentine political climate, and despite the many stragglers the country is becoming accustomed to a pluralist institutional structure.