The purpose of this article is to provide an analysis of the influence of economic crisis on the formation of new political coalitions in Argentina as they emerged in the 2000s, and how the latter have led to a break with the economic policy established by the Menem and De la Rua governments. These transformations permitted a change in the Kirchner government strategies in relation to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), leading to a harsher Argentine position that has resisted IMF positions. The economic policies sustained by the Duhalde and Kirchner administrations have taken a competitive foreign exchange model as their basis, substituting the exchange regime that was in vigor during the 1990s, and has been able to rely on entrepreneurial groups working within the domestic market favored by the peso's devaluation. These governments' proposal for promoting economic growth excluded actors with external ties linked to the coalitions that supported the Menem and De La Rua administrations. Among those excluded were the creditors who had held government securities in default since 2001 and firms who provided subcontracted public services during the 1990s and received IMF support. This explains why negotiations with the IMF during the Kirchner administration were marked by impasses and why Argentine negotiators were able to show such firmness. Transformations on the international scene also had a heavy impact on Kirchner government negotiations with the IMF. With George W. Bush's election as president of the US in the year 2000, North American support for IMF loan concession to developing countries was weakened. The Republican government defended a further reduction in the IMF role in mediating negotiations between debtor countries and private creditors. The Argentine government felt that at this point it would be able to dispense with the intermediary role of international financial institutions in negotiation of public debt.
Argentina; coalitions; neoliberalism; Néstor Kirchner; IMF
