Neoliberal restructuring, financialisation and socio-political competition in Argentina: the Convertibility System and the contradictory outcomes of dollarisation, 1989-2001
Titel:
Neoliberal restructuring, financialisation and socio-political competition in Argentina: the Convertibility System and the contradictory outcomes of dollarisation, 1989-2001
Auteur:
Jimenez-Huerta, Mariana
Verschenen in:
Contemporary politics
Paginering:
Jaargang 14 (2008) nr. 3 pagina's 335-355
Jaar:
2008-09
Inhoud:
In Argentina, as in many transition economies, the maintenance of monetary management and policy options while also maintaining the autonomy of national currencies has been severely constrained, becoming increasingly dependent on and conditioned by the financial globalisation process. So far, the dominant view within International Political Economy has too often assumed the existence of a process of convergence amongst different financial markets. I question this view by arguing that this process of convergence does not always hold if we look at the multifarious experiences of particular countries for explaining policy responses and outcomes as a result of very specific instances of distributional conflict and political bargaining. This paper argues that in searching for strategies, such as monetary policy, developing countries have constantly been compelled to introduce policies requiring (a) openness to international financial flows; (b) consensual and mutually advantageous relationships with states (and market actors) that provide and/or control international reserve currencies; and (c) domestic stabilisation and the re-articulation of socio-political coalitions around the policy choices implied by (a) and (b). In search of a strategy, the Argentine government adopted in 1990 a rigid exchange rate mechanism via a currency board using the US dollar as an anchor, labelled the Convertibility Plan. Such a strategy required not merely economic adaptation but, more significantly, a re-articulation of the political process around different groups and interests. In Argentina, I identify a pattern of initial stability and credibility undermined by compromises with key coalition partners and with powerful opponents of the policy which eventually destabilised its credibility and sustainability, leading to a very protracted crisis and eventual abandonment of the policy in 2001 and the return to a managed exchange rate system.
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