| Abstract: | This article attempts to respond to a simple question: What are the factors which caused the December crisis and whether or not they have been defused since president Duhalde came to power? The answer, by contrast, does not appear to be so straightforward. After analyzing a broad range of causes, some of which were thought of as harbingers of democratic breakdown and some which are considered driving forces of the current instability, this article points out two combined causes in the Argentinean crisis: the fragmentation of the politico–institutional system and the extreme dependency of its economy on foreign credit. Given the fact that both reasons cannot be fully understood simply in terms of historical precedent, the article also looks at what is new in this case. |
