Defining the Nonprofit Sector: Argentina

Campetella, González Bombal, and RoitterDefining the Nonprofit Sector: ArgentinaPolitical Proscription and Social ConflictsIn 1955 the Peronist government was overthrown by a coup d’etat, which was followed by along period of institutional instability. Military interventions, an extreme politicization of the wholesociety, and the generalization of political violence characterized this period. Peronism wasproscribed, except for a brief period between 1973 and 1976 in which Juan Perón was re-electedpresident. In 1976 there was another coup d’etat that initiated the bloody dictatorship known as theProceso de Reorganización National (National Reorganization Process).Regarding nonprofit institutions, several of them supported the military governments whilesome others were havens for the political opposition. The unidades básicas seemed to have beenspaces for the proscribed Peronism. The Eva Perón Foundation was dissolved immediately after the1955 coup d’etat. Trade unions maintained and increased their power, becoming major pressuregroups. As one result of such power, in 1970 a law was enacted for the obras sociales, organizingthem into a national system that covered all paid workers.Also, many scientists and intellectuals, who were forced to leave public universities becauseof political persecution, created a large number of research centers and foundations. 9 Several civiland human rights organizations, which later were essential for the democratic transition of 1983,were also created in this period.Transition and Consolidation of DemocracySince the 1980s, in the context of institutional stability and democracy, two processes shouldbe highlighted to understand the relationship between the state, the market, and the third sector.First, there has been a greater autonomy of civil society guaranteed by democratic stability andconstitutional liberties. In this sense, civil society has begun to fulfill new functions, such as thecontrol of public powers, the denouncement of governmental corruption, and the promotion of theindependence of the judiciary.Second, since 1989, after the economic crisis marked by hyperinflation, profound reforms ofthe economy and the state have been undertaken. These processes have brought economic stabilityunder free market conditions, and they also have been the cause of the state withdrawal from welfarefunctions. Such rolling back of the state has opened a space for the activity of civil societyorganizations.9In 1958 the Institute of Sociology Gino Germani and the Di Tella Institute were established. The former was veryimportant in the social sciences field, and the latter in the cultural and artistic fields. (González Bombal y Vacchieri,1986).7