Río Negro's political system against political de-nationalization: 1983-2011

Abstract

The guidelines regulating competition for power are crucial to the proper functioning of a democratic political system. These guidelines surely increase in a federal or multilevel system. After the restoration of democracy in Argentina the political system was redefined, giving provinces a much higher authority in terms of public policies implementation, tax collection and electoral process. The territoriality of politics (or denationalization) partly explains the changes in the national bipartisanship (PJ-UCR), the appearance of new parties and the construction of new political identities. Until 2011, Río Negro was among the few districts with a predominant party which was different from the national predominant party, and the only district where the UCR ruled uninterruptedly since 1983. This paper seeks to explore the operation of the political system in Rio Negro within the context of denationalization and according to the following questions: How congruent or incongruent is the party system in Rio Negro in reference to the national one? Which is their level of competition? What effects have the electoral reforms had on the functioning of the sub national party system in Rio Negro? By answering these questions, this article contributes to the study of the interactions between a national party system and a sub national party system, in the context of federal or multilevel political systems.