ABOUT THIS BOOK

In this original study, Jorge A. Nállim chronicles the decline of liberalism in Argentina during the volatile period between two military coups—the 1930 overthrow of
Hipólito Yrigoyen and the deposing of Juan Perón in 1955. While historians have primarily focused on liberalism in economic or political contexts, Nállim instead documents a wide range of locations where liberalism was claimed and ultimately marginalized in the pursuit of individual agendas.

Nállim shows how concepts of liberalism were espoused by various groups who “invented traditions” to legitimatize their methods of political, religious, class, intellectual, or cultural hegemony. In these deeply fractured and corrupt processes, liberalism lost political favor and alienated the public. These events also set the table for Peronism and stifled the future of progressive liberalism in Argentina.

Nállim describes the main political parties of the period and deconstructs their liberal discourses. He also examines major cultural institutions and shows how each attached liberalism to their cause.

Nállim compares and contrasts the events in Argentina to those in other Latin American nations and reveals their links to international developments. While critics have positioned the rhetoric of liberalism during this period as one of decadence or irrelevance, Nállim instead shows it to be a vital and complex factor in the metamorphosis of modern history in Argentina and Latin America as well.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Jorge A. Nállim is associate professor of history at the University of Manitoba.

REVIEWS

“This excellent book advances our understandings of Argentine economic and political liberalism during the turbulent years from 1930 to 1950. . . . Nallim shines in his discussion of the flow of ideas through literary currents that transmitted liberal thought, and of how economic liberalism led to the Concordancia’s plans for economic reforms in the 1940s.”
--Latin American Studies

“Nallim has expertly written a much-needed book. The scholarship on liberalism has mostly centered either on its development and impact in the nineteenth century, particularly during its heyday between the 1880s and 1910s, or on its comeback during the neoliberal reforms of the 2990s. Instead, Nallim focuses on the voices of liberalism between 1930 and 1943; the Peronist years, as he acknowledges, are mostly a bookend for the main thrust of his analysis.”
--Hispanic American Historical Review

"By focusing on both political parties and intellectuals, the author shows the widespread importance of the liberal tradition in debates about the shifting nature of national politics. . . . This book will appeal to anybody interested in Argentine history or Latin American political history as well as those who want to learn more about the evolution of liberalism in the Americas."
--Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1. The Liberal Hegemony: Argentine Liberal Tradition(s), 1820s–1930

Chapter 2. Between Dictatorship and Limited Democracy: Liberalism and Politics, 1930–1938

Chapter 3. For Freedom and against Totalitarianism: Liberalism and the Politicization of Intellectual Circles in the 1930s

Chapter 4. Between Free Trade and Economic Dictatorship: The Politics of Economic Liberalism in the 1930s

Chapter 5. From Antifascism to Anti-Peronism: The Apogee and Crisis of Liberalism in Politics and Culture, 1938–1946

Chapter 6. Economic Liberalism, State Intervention, and Social Justice: Between the Crisis of the Concordancia and the Rise of Peronism, 1938–1946

Chapter 7. In the Shadow of Peronism: Marginalization, Continuities, and Changes, 1946–1955

Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Index

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