The past two hundred argentinean years in a sociological key and on the shoulders of giants

this article systematizes a number of sociological explanations accounting for two hundred years of argentinean institutional history. the analysis focuses on the difficulties to build up a democratic, stable, political order, which is why the key factors chosen only brush on individual protagonists. however, it is clear from the text that the period was characterized by the recurrent rise of personalist leaders who produced and were the product of the weaknesses shown by institutional structures. alternation between periods of social mobilization and thwarting authoritarian reactions was another significant component of a political culture that seems to have begun to crack over the past two decades.