From National-Popular Peronism to Neoliberal Peronism: Transformations of Political Identities in Menemist Argentina

During the 1990s, Menem led a profound transformation in public policies in Argentina, implementing a model of accumulation positioned at the opposite end of the post-war Welfare State. However, he managed to maintain the support of a majority of the traditional National-Popular and Peronist sectors, and reformulate, with a relative degree of success, the long-established identities. This paper analyzes the interpellations and arguments that the president constructed to legitimize the transformation of identity in the direction of neoliberal-conservative ideas. From a post-foundational perspective, the article argues against essentialist analyses and, at the same time, raises the question of performativity in post-foundational thought. It proposes an analytical differentiation between the planes and levels of discourse, for the purpose of examining the performative efficacy of any hegemonic formation. It concludes that the analysis of presidential interpellations, in conjunction with non-linguistic discourse conditionings, provides key resources for understanding said efficacy and consolidation of the neoliberal order.