The Crisis of Argentine Capitalism
Desde Amazon me llegó hoy una recomendación sobre el libro "LA CRISIS DEL CAPITALISMO ARGENTINO" de Paul Lewis de la Universidad de North Carolina. Lo primero que cruzó por mi mente fue "otro ensayo sobre los origenes de la crisis del 2001", pero luego me doy cuenta que es un libro publicado en 1990!!! y que abarca el período desde 1910 (cuando la Argentina estaba destinada a ser uno de los grandes países de la tierra) hasta fines de la década del ´80 cuando ya el derrumbre de la Argentina estaba en etapa avanzada. Más allá del título, creo que este libro nos cuenta un poco esa historia sobre el derrumbe Argentino, y explora las explicaciones más comunes que tiene nuestro fracaso como país. (ver puntos 1 a 6 más abajo)
CHAPTER ONE
Introduction. Answers to a Riddle
Argentina holds a morbid fascination for students of political economy because it has a system in which power is so thoroughly spread out among well-organized and entrenched interests that it is an almost perfect example of entropy. Also, Argentina fascinates students of development because, in many respects, it seems to be going backward. Although it possesses many modern institutions, they are decaying rapidly. Argentines are sensitive to this and spend much time analyzing their society's shortcomings and prescribing remedies, like patients suffering from a rare, wasting disease. They once aspired to becoming one of the world's advanced nations, but they failed. That failure is all the more puzzling because Argentina possesses a temperate climate, an integrated national territory, vast stretches of fertile soil, large deposits of petroleum, easy access to the sea, and a literate and fairly homogeneous population.
There have been many attempts in both the scholarly and popular literature to explain Argentina's stagnation. Broadly speaking, the following are the most frequently cited causes:
(1) the traditional cattle-raising and export merchant oligarchy's refusal to accept modern social and political change;
(2) the military's increasing interference in politics, which exacerbates instability rather than avoids it;
(3) the exploitation of Argentina by foreign capital;
(4) the lack of a native industrial class with a true entrepreneurial spirit;
(5) the personal machinations of one man, Juan Domingo Perón, who was Argentina's president from 1946 to 1955 and continued to influence its politics for two decades after that; and, finally,
(6) the Argentine national character in general, which is held to be egotistical, inflexible, and conflictive, thus making impossible all cooperative effort, including that required for development.
Let us describe each of these causes in a little more detail and establish working hypotheses or tools with which to explore the complexities of Argentina's recent history.
(capítulo I continúa en el libro completo)
The Crisis of Argentine Capitalism - Questia Online Library
- Contents
- Tables
- Preface to the Paperback Edition
- Preface to the First Edition
- Abbreviations
- Chapter 1: Introduction
- Part I: Argentine Industrial Capitalism Before Peron
- Chapter 2: The Preconditions for Growth
- Chapter 3: The Emergence of Industry
- Chapter 4: Capital and Capitalists
- Chapter 5: The State and Industry
- Chapter 6: Labor
- Part II: The Peronist Watershed
- Chapter 7: The Roots of Charisma
- Chapter 8: Toward the Corporate State
- Chapter 9: The Rise and Fall of Peronist Economics
- Chapter 10: The End is the Beginning
- Part III: Political Stalemate and Economic Decline
- Chapter 11: The Paralysis of the State
- Chapter 12: Planning Under Pressure
- Chapter 13: The Role of Foreign Capital
- Chapter 14: Local Businessmen and Their Limitations
- Chapter 15: Capital on Strike
- Chapter 16: The Erosion of Union Power
- Part IV: Descent into Chaos
- Chapter 17: The End of an Illusion
- Chapter 18: The Agony of the Open Market
- Chapter 19: Dynamic Stagnation
- Chapter 20: The Permanent Stalemate
- Notes
- Index
Ver libro completo:The Crisis of Argentine Capitalism - Questia Online Library
O también se puede comprar el libro en AMAZON
CHAPTER ONE
Introduction. Answers to a Riddle
Argentina holds a morbid fascination for students of political economy because it has a system in which power is so thoroughly spread out among well-organized and entrenched interests that it is an almost perfect example of entropy. Also, Argentina fascinates students of development because, in many respects, it seems to be going backward. Although it possesses many modern institutions, they are decaying rapidly. Argentines are sensitive to this and spend much time analyzing their society's shortcomings and prescribing remedies, like patients suffering from a rare, wasting disease. They once aspired to becoming one of the world's advanced nations, but they failed. That failure is all the more puzzling because Argentina possesses a temperate climate, an integrated national territory, vast stretches of fertile soil, large deposits of petroleum, easy access to the sea, and a literate and fairly homogeneous population.
There have been many attempts in both the scholarly and popular literature to explain Argentina's stagnation. Broadly speaking, the following are the most frequently cited causes:
(1) the traditional cattle-raising and export merchant oligarchy's refusal to accept modern social and political change;
(2) the military's increasing interference in politics, which exacerbates instability rather than avoids it;
(3) the exploitation of Argentina by foreign capital;
(4) the lack of a native industrial class with a true entrepreneurial spirit;
(5) the personal machinations of one man, Juan Domingo Perón, who was Argentina's president from 1946 to 1955 and continued to influence its politics for two decades after that; and, finally,
(6) the Argentine national character in general, which is held to be egotistical, inflexible, and conflictive, thus making impossible all cooperative effort, including that required for development.
Let us describe each of these causes in a little more detail and establish working hypotheses or tools with which to explore the complexities of Argentina's recent history.
(capítulo I continúa en el libro completo)
The Crisis of Argentine Capitalism - Questia Online Library
- Contents
- Tables
- Preface to the Paperback Edition
- Preface to the First Edition
- Abbreviations
- Chapter 1: Introduction
- Part I: Argentine Industrial Capitalism Before Peron
- Chapter 2: The Preconditions for Growth
- Chapter 3: The Emergence of Industry
- Chapter 4: Capital and Capitalists
- Chapter 5: The State and Industry
- Chapter 6: Labor
- Part II: The Peronist Watershed
- Chapter 7: The Roots of Charisma
- Chapter 8: Toward the Corporate State
- Chapter 9: The Rise and Fall of Peronist Economics
- Chapter 10: The End is the Beginning
- Part III: Political Stalemate and Economic Decline
- Chapter 11: The Paralysis of the State
- Chapter 12: Planning Under Pressure
- Chapter 13: The Role of Foreign Capital
- Chapter 14: Local Businessmen and Their Limitations
- Chapter 15: Capital on Strike
- Chapter 16: The Erosion of Union Power
- Part IV: Descent into Chaos
- Chapter 17: The End of an Illusion
- Chapter 18: The Agony of the Open Market
- Chapter 19: Dynamic Stagnation
- Chapter 20: The Permanent Stalemate
- Notes
- Index
Ver libro completo:The Crisis of Argentine Capitalism - Questia Online Library
O también se puede comprar el libro en AMAZON