Argentine Federalism in COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

This chapter has four parts. The first section addresses the legal analysis of the Argentine local governments' autonomous regime, considering its provinces and municipalities, and the second section analyzes the portfolio of policies – nationals, provincials, locals – to attend the emergency of COVID-19, which show that the Federal State was dedicated to the overall strategy: sustaining the income of citizens, businesses, and subnational governments; and the purchase and distribution of health equipment and supplies, while the attention of COVID-19 cases fell to the provinces and municipalities. The third section analyzes the coordination mechanisms during the pandemic mainly based more on presidential leadership with the support of governors and mayors than on institutional mechanisms. Finally, the role of the political agency especially as for the main interjurisdictional conflicts that took place in 2020 and 2021 once the authorities dimensioned the pandemic scope as well as the Kirchnerism/anti-Kirchnerism cleavage that characterizes Argentine politics since 2008.

Citation

Cravacuore, D.A. (2021), "Argentine Federalism in COVID-19 Pandemic", Peters, B.G., Grin, E. and Abrucio, F.L. (Ed.) American Federal Systems and COVID-19, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 43-62. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80117-165-620211003