The Role of the State in 'Menemista' Argentina: Educational Politics in the Nineties
Ibero-americana; Stockholm › Vol. 36 Núm. 1, Enero 2006
Enlazado como:
Extracto
The Role of the State in 'Menemista' Argentina: Educational Politics in the Nineties
I. INTRODUCTION
During the last century Argentina, like many other Latin American countries, initiated important reforms in their educational system1. In general, these reforms were imposed by international organizations to solve financial problems and they were oriented to opening educational services to private competition.2 Even if in most cases the governments that introduced the educational reforms had a clear neo-liberal approach to economic policy, the fact is that the role of the state in education was not diminished. This was especially true in Argentina during the presidency of Carlos Saul Menetn (1989-1999). Menem, who belonged to the Jmticialista Party, assumed power in 1989 at the height of a social and economic crisis that was precipitated by hyperinflation and financial chaos. Once in power, President Menem used effective macroeconomic policies to recover stability while emphasizing the role of the private sector in economic activity. In the case of education, it is believed that privatization was encouraged by the decentralization of secondary education and the reform of higher education system.Most of academic works dealing with the new educational regulations argue that "educational transformation", as it was called by government officials, meant the victory of Neo-liberal State over Welfare State. Certainly, from the ideological perspective of Social State, education is a public good and hence, the state has to intervene thoroughly.3 For these authors, the modernization of the educational system in the nineties diminished the power of Federal State.4 Education became a commodity and the public system collapsed . In this article, we argue that it would be rather incorrect to affirm that decision making related to the education system was radically transferred to private sector and that the state suffered a loss of power in educational matters. On the one hand, Provincial governments took charge ...Ver el contenido completo de este documento
Enlaces patrocinados
