Although originally a section in the Justicialist Party, Kirchnerism later received support from other smaller Argentine political parties (like the Communist Party or the Humanist Party) and from factions of some traditional parties (like the Radical Civic Union and the Socialist Party). In parties which are divided along Kirchnerist/Anti-Kirchnerist lines, the members of the Kirchnerist faction are often distinguished with the letter K (for instance "peronistas/justicialistas K", "radicales K" or "socialistas K") while the anti-Kirchnerist factions, those opposing Kirchnerism, are similarly labelled with the expression "anti-K".
Characteristics
Rally of youth belonging to La Cámpora, April 2012
Both Kirchner and Fernández come from the left-wing of Peronism and both began their political careers as members of the Peronist Youth (Juventud Peronista). Many of the Kirchners' closest allies belong to the Peronist left. Anti-Kirchnerists often criticize this ideological background with the term setentista ("seventies-ist"), suggesting that Kirchnerism is overly influenced by the populist struggle of the 1970s.
In its electoral campaigns, the Kirchnerist candidates combined the traditional elements of Peronism - nationalism, anti-imperialism, and economic redistribution. Similarly to classical Peronism, the support base of Kirchnerism became the working class, unemployed, and the new social movement. Kirchnerism is considered to be a part of the larger Pink Tide in Latin America - a rise of left-wing populist movements.[24]
Initially, Kirchnerism has shown itself to be concerned with the defense of human rights, particularly in prosecuting those who committed human rights violations during the Dirty War and were later made immune from prosecution by the governments of Carlos Menem (1989–1999). The willingness of the Kirchner government to revoke these immunities has led many Argentine pressure groups, such as the Madres de Plaza de Mayo and Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, to take an actively Kirchnerist position.[25] This has led to many controversies and to allegations that the Kirchners were never fully committed to human rights, especially during the period of the last military dictatorship, and that it was only when Kirchner became President and began to make alliances with the left-wing parties in Congress and with the Madres de Plaza de Mayo that he started to campaign about these rights in order to promote his own platform and gain popular favor. It is documented nevertheless that the Kirchners did push for trial against human rights violators during the dictatorship, although late in that period in 1983, when its end was already in sight.[26]
Economically, Kirchnerism has pursued an economic policy of industrialistdevelopmentalism, and tariffs to protect the local industry and employment. The movement was also characterized by actively developing economic relations with Brazil and Venezuela; Kirchnerism also took an antagonistic position towards the IMF and the United States, denouncing both for interventionist policies and promoting austerity measures. Under Kirchner, the national economy started recovering, which resulted in economic growth and declining unemployment by 2003. This allowed Kirchnerism to become the dominant force of modern Peronism. Political scientists Bonvecchi and Zelaznik wrote: "Menem had converted Peronism from a labor-based party to a “neoliberal” force. Kirchner’s agenda, contrary to Menem’s, was in tune with the traditional state-centered Peronist preferences. Kirchner was therefore able to return Peronism to its political tradition." Kirchnerism came to be seen as a movement that "represents the current version of left Peronism, modernised for the times".[27]
Internationally, Kirchnerism has strongly supported Mercosur and vice versa, to the point that the President of Mercosur, Carlos Álvarez, is a Kirchnerist. One of the most prominent aims of Kirchnerism is to strengthen Argentine relations with the countries of Latin America and to establish a South American economic axis. Recent economic measures posited by Fernández's government have nevertheless hurt Argentina's relationship with these countries, mainly Brazil[28] and Uruguay, whose President José "Pepe" Mujica expressed worries regarding Argentina going towards an "autarkist" form of government and the Kirchnerist economic model "complicating relationships and multiplying difficulties" in bilateral commerce.[29]
Kirchnerism, in particular former minister of health Ginés González García, has shown a liberal attitude to birth control and sexuality, including the legalization of same-sex marriage, both of which have provoked the opposition of the Catholic Church and other conservative sectors.[30]
Ideology
Five economic tenets
According to Alberto Fernández, the Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers during the first five years of Kirchnerism and former President of Argentina, they followed five tenets regarding the economy, which explained the perceived early success of the movement:[31]
"Take no measures that increase the fiscal deficit"
"Take no measures that increase the trade deficit"
"Accumulate reserves in the central bank"
"Keep the exchange rate very high to stay competitive and favor exports"
"Pay off the external debt and do not acquire new debt"
According to Fernández, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner moved away from these five tenets after her husband's death, causing an economic crisis that resulted in the first political defeat of Kirchnerism in a presidential election in 2015. In the presidential election of 2019, Kirchnerism returned to power with the election of Alberto Fernández as President and Cristina Kirchner as Vice President.[32][33] In the 2021 legislative elections on 14 November 2021, the Frente de Todos lost its majority in Congress for the first time in almost 40 years in midterm legislative elections. The election victory of the center-right coalition, Juntos por el Cambio (Together for Change), meant a tough final two years in office for President Alberto Fernandez. Losing control of the Senate made it difficult for him to make key appointments, including to the judiciary. It also forced him to negotiate with the opposition every initiative he sends to the legislature.[34][35]
Ronaldo Munck described Kirchnerism as close to Chavismo, including left-wing nationalism. Munck wrote that Kirchnerism is "clearly part of the anti-imperialist left".[36] Political scientists Gary Prevost and Carlos Oliva Campos state that Kirchnerism represents a return of Peronism "to its traditional center-left stance" under Juan Perón, and note that under Kirchnerisms, "Peronists have returned to a progressive orientation, distancing themselves almost completely from the decade-long neoliberal detour under Carlos Menem."[37] Economically, Kirchnerist governments pursued a redistributive agenda based on promoting the interests of organized labor. Just like classical Peronism, Kirchnerism relies on the support of the informal sector workers and the unemployed (the piqueteros), the poor, and trade unions. Kirchnerism promoted fair redistribution of income and nationalization - to this end, Kirchnerism "openly defied the IMF and international creditors", restored price controls and state ownership of public utilities, increased the minimum wage, and removed legal restrictions from collective labor strikes.[38]
Prevost and Campos argue that Kirchnerism was protectionist and state interventionist, much like Perón. The unique trait of Kirchnerism was its focus on anti-neoliberalism, postulating the need to move away from neoliberal Menemism and reverse its policies.[38] It was also described as economically nationalist,[39] and socialist.[40] Kirchnerism, similarly to movements such as Lulism, is seen as a response and a counter to neoliberalism; some political scientists propose the term ‘Pink Tide neopopulism’ to describe such movements, as opposed to the neoliberal populism of the 1990s.[41]
On foreign policy, Kirchnerism displays nationalist and anti-Western tendencies, denouncing the United States and the IMF. Kirchnerist governments were an ally of the Venezuelan presidents Hugo Chávez and Nicolas Maduro, and pursued economic and political ties with Venezuela as well as Cuba. This was combined with an anti-American rhetoric, in which the Kirchnerist administrations accused the USA of interference in Latin American affairs, and strongly opposed the War on Drugs, especially in the aspect that spill over to Latin America.[37] Similarly, both Nestor Kirchner and Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner "moved to break the popular conception that political parties and the government mainly heed the interests of the international creditors and global markets, not of the Argentinians"; because of this, Kirchnerism frequently targets "IMF, foreign and domestic capitalists, bondholders and the military" in both policies and rhetoric.[38] Raimundo Frei Toledo argues that Kirchnerism "broke the ‘Washington consensus’ when, together with other leftist Latin American leaders (e.g. Chavez, Lula), he rejected the ALCA and disobeyed the IMF’s guidelines, thereby enhancing national pride and connecting Argentina to the Latin American community."[42]
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.[43] Thus he got support from factions of the Justicialist Party, the Radical Civic Union (which were called "Radicales K") 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.
Decline
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. After the 2011 general elections, several K radicals regretted having been part of that political space, turning once again to the opposition UCR. Such is the case of Miguel Saiz, former governor of Río Negro, who declared: "My commitment to the Concertación ended in December 2011".
Kirchnerism has encountered opposition from various sectors of Argentine society, which tend to criticize its personalism.[45]
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:[46]
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:[47]
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"
^Ruckert, Arne; Macdonald, Laura; Proulx, Kristina R. (2017). "Post-neoliberalism in Latin America: a conceptual review". Third World Quarterly. 38 (7): 1583–1602. doi:10.1080/01436597.2016.1259558. S2CID157767263.
^Melber, Henning; Brand, Ulrich; Nicola, Selkler (2009). Postneoliberalism – A Beginning Debate. Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation. ISBN978-9185214525.
^Kaufman, Alejandro (2011). "What's in a Name: The Death and Legacy of Néstor Kirchner". Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies. 20 (1): 103. doi:10.1080/13569325.2011.562635. S2CID191567015.
^ abMontañez, Julio Ramírez (27 June 2016). "The XXI century socialism in the context of the new Latin American left". Civilizar Ciencias Sociales y Humanas. 17 (33). Colombia: Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana: 97–112. doi:10.22518/16578953.902. This socialism of the XXI century, overflowed the Venezuelan experience and became a trend that took greater force throughout Latin America, especially in Ecuador with its President Rafael Correa, in Bolivia implemented by its president Evo Morales and in Argentina initially with Néstor Kirchner and later with his wife Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, as well as in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Uruguay. This ideological conception sought primarily to give responses to the serious problem of underdevelopment in which the region lives due to the social imbalances, injustice and inequality (Hamburger, 2014).
^ ab"Winds of change in the Latin American political arena for 2017"(PDF). Developing Ideas (5). Madrid: LLYC: 11. 2017. In terms of South America, three years ago it had three centre-right governments (those of Juan Manuel Santos in Colombia, Horacio Cartes in Paraguay and Sebastián Piñera in Chile), three centre-left governments (Ollanta Humala in Peru, Dilma Rousseff in Brazil and José Mujica in Uruguay) and four of the similarly heterogeneous, Socialism of the 21st century and allies (Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela, Rafael Correa in Ecuador, Evo Morales in Bolivia and Cristina Kirchner in Argentina).
^ ab"Kirchnerismo bolivariano del siglo XXI". La Nación (in Spanish). 2010-05-29. Retrieved 2023-02-04. La cuestión central no es, entonces, disfrazar con más palabras lo que en realidad se puede llamar por su nombre: Néstor Kirchner practica una suerte de nacionalismo de izquierda, que Hugo Chávez denomina el "socialismo del siglo XXI".
^Tekiner, Uğur (2020). "Back-to-roots again? Kirchnerismo as a reclaiming of classical Peronism". METU Studies in Development. 47 (1): 267. This impact achieved an unprecedented point even exceeding the party divisions, in that certain groups from rival parties such as the UCR, PS (Partido Socialista - Socialist Party), and CPA (Partido Comunista de la Argentina - Communist Party of Argentina) identify themselves with Kirchnerism.
"Argentine President Stumps for Congressional Candidates". Wall Street Journal. 29 June 2013. Retrieved 13 February 2020. Speaking to thousands of supporters in a packed soccer stadium, Mrs. Kirchner stumped for the candidates who will represent her left-wing coalition, the FPV, in October's vote.
^Barrett, Patrick; Chavez, Daniel; Rodríguez-Garavito, César (2008). The New Latin American Left: Utopia Reborn. Pluto Press. p. 182. ISBN9780745326771.
^ abPrevost, Gary; Campos, Carlos Oliva; Vanden, Harry E. (2012). Social Movements and Leftist Governments in Latin America: Confrontation or Co-optation?. Zed Books. ISBN978-1780321837.
^ abcTekiner, Uğur (2020). "Back-to-roots again? Kirchnerismo as a reclaiming of classical Peronism". METU Studies in Development. 47 (1): 257–280.
^Nehring, Daniel; López, Magdalena; Michel, Gerardo Gómez (2019). A Post-Neoliberal Era in Latin America? Revisiting Cultural Paradigms. Bristol University Press. p. 7. ISBN978-1-5292-0131-4.
Fraga, Rosendo (2010). Fin de ciKlo: ascenso, apogeo y declinación del poder kirchnerista [End of the cycle: rise, heyday and decline of Kirchner's power] (in Spanish). Buenos Aires: Ediciones B.
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