1. Case Study #1: Argentina
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3. Argentina today Capital: Buenos Aires
Population (2015 est.): 43 million (1/3 of population in Buenos Aires)
Country with 8th largest land area
Official languages: None (most common, Spanish)
President: Mauricio Macri
Congress – Upper house - Senate
Lower house – Chamber of Deputies
Independence from Spain: 1816
Organized into 23 provinces and one autonomous city
92% Catholic
Indigenous groups – 2% of population
Largest state recognized indigenous group: Mapuches (est. 115,000)
Currency - peso
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4. Government of Argentina
Argentina is a federal constitutional republic and a representative democracy. The government is defined through the Constitution of Argentina. This Constitution was created in 1853, revised a number of times. Constitution currently in force was written in 1994.
Suffrage is universal, equal, secret and mandatory.
The federal government is composed of three branches:
The Legislative branch consists of a bicameral Congress, made up of two houses:
The Senate has 72 members: each of the 23 provinces and the national capital have 3 senators. 2 senators from each province represents the majority political party; the third represents the party that received the 2nd highest number of votes. Senators have 6 year terms.
Chamber of Deputies has 257 seats under proportional representation. Deputies have a 4 year term. (The most populous province, Buenos Aires Province, has 70 deputies.)
Congress makes law, approves treaties, levies taxes (along with the provincial governments)
At least 1/3 of candidates presented by political parties must be women.
The Executive branch includes the president, vice president, and the cabinet (whose work is described and defined in the Constitution)
President and vice president are directly elected by the people to 4 year terms; they can serve two terms in a row
President is commander-in-chief, can veto congressional bills before they become law, and appoints the Cabinet, who run the agencies that administer and enforce federal law.
The judicial branch includes the Supreme Court and federal courts:
Courts interpret laws and overturn unconstitutional laws
Supreme Court’s 7 members appointed by the President and approved by the Senate.
Provinces have their own governments and constitutions as well.
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5. Preamble and first two sections of the Argentine constitution (1994)
We, the representatives of the people of the Argentine Nation, gathered in General Constituent Assembly by the will and election of the Provinces which compose it, in fulfillment of pre-existing pacts, in order to form a national union, guarantee justice, secure domestic peace, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves, to our posterity, and to all men of the world who wish to dwell on Argentine soil: invoking the protection of God, source of all reason and justice: do ordain, decree, and establish this Constitution for the Argentine Nation.
Section 1.- The Argentine Nation adopts the federal republican representative form of government, as this Constitution establishes.
Section 2.- The Federal Government supports the Roman Catholic Apostolic religion.
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