¿Qué 20 años no es nada? Globalización, posmodernidad y rebelión en Argentina, de Menem a Kirchner (1988-2008)

Abstract

This paper attempts to prove the existence of a series of specific relations between political dynamics, social struggles, and the new paradigms that globalization imposed on Argentine culture, between 1988 and 2008. The research starts from recent history, in order to apply the perspective of social history to the analysis of current problems. The transdisciplinary methodology applied is based on economics, cultural sociology and art history. Beginning with the end of Raúl Alfonsín’s administration, the paper discusses the presidencies of Carlos Menem and the return to power of the Unión Cívica Radical, and it concludes with some remarks on the new period opened up by Néstor Kirchner’s government. In this setting, the social protests of strikers, socalled “piqueteros” and the middle classes obtained political protagonism, causingthe resignation of President Fernando de la Rúa, after a spontaneous insurrection in December 2001. The political dynamics that extend through the administrations of Alfonsín, Menem and De la Rúa are understood as directly linked to the development of social protest, as an expression of the contradictions found within Argentine society. The analysis of different pieces of art taken from the film industry reveals key issues concerning a change in the perception of the world, imposed by globalization, crystallizing in the contradictions and struggles which form the core ideas of the paper.