Political elites in the mirror: Socio-professional profiles of political leaders in Argentina (1983-1999)

ABSTRACT

Introduction

The aim of this article is to examine the socio-professional characteristics of political groups in Argentina, during a period characterized by democratic stability and electoral competition (1983-1999). The study is based on the analysis of political staff recruitment in Mendoza province to investigate social and group backgrounds, which allows rebuilding a map of political careers possibilities at national and local level. The starting hypothesis was that regular recurrence of elections and the electoral competition after 1983 were contextual factors to encourage the development of political professionalization.

Methods

Based on a prosopographical method, the research carried out by the construction of a database, which has 544 entries for positions achieved. The database included national deputies and national senators, ministers, governors, local deputies and local senators, among others. The sources for the construction of database come from National Congress’ documents, Legislature of Mendoza, printing press and in-deep interviews.

Results

The principal results of the analysis of quantitative variables, like age, gender composition, educational level and occupation before political career, shows off the channels of political elites’ recruitment from different social spaces.

Discussion

The purpose of this research is to investigate who govern in the democratic Argentina with the view to observing the forms to bring about beliefs into the groups who make decisions. Also, the aspiration is to explore the manner to make and structure political nets between elites, civil servants and bureaucracies. A general overview gives an account of the attributes or conditions to enable or obstruct a political career in the contemporary period. In the end, the research seeks to contribute to the debate of political professionalization in Latin America.

KEYWORDS:
political elites; professionalization; democracy; recruitment; prosopography