Argentina as a Third World Country

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Argentina had been independent for quite some time when the 1940s came around their journey to maintaining a strong economy and government was struggling to maintain the same. By this time Argentina would already have various presidents this would be the major reason for their failure to navitiage independence. They could not satisfy their people, failing to keep one president in power would cause major decisions to occur that were Argentina’s political failures. Their economic failures were the lack of modern industrialization and capitalism that would have a negative impact on their trade system.

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These were the two main reasons for the leaders failures at the time but some of them were successful to the extent that they were able to modify some of the industry worker’s environments and changed some political policies that would relieve them from American threats.

Argentina was colonized by Spain in the 16th century but would become independent in 1816 from then until the 1940s they would be ruled by the oligarchy uniting labor work and businesses.

After their liberation they would not be colonized again but would instead face huge pressure from the United States. After winning independence Argentina was left to find solutions to their economic problems, most of which came from beef and wheat exports. When the Great Depression came around the country’s trade agreements with the the US would stop causing unemployments jobs and a decrease in demand for goods.

According to Steger he states that, “Economic globalization refers to the intensification and stretching of economic relations across the globe.

..flows of capital and technology have stimulated trades in goods and services”(Steger pg.38) Globalization would never reach Argentina they repress the U.S and would not allow them to take Britain’s place as trade partner. Prashad in the chapter of Buenos Aires describes the economy to be, “after centuries of imperialism, the new nations had been left with economies that relied on the sale of raw material and the import of finished goods...Argentina had to export vast amounts...low prices.”(Prashad 62)

Before World War 2 began Argentina was suffering from the economic policies of the First World’s trade system, left to accept unfair revenue that came from exports. Colonialism cause Argentina to struggle to bring wealth to the country, Prashad states that “....Colonialism ravaged the world and left no more than half of it bereft of capital and with surfeit of poverty...impoverished the darker nations...appropriated wealth to...Europe and United States.” (Prashad pg 66) Argentina had constant trading injustices that robbed the country of their proper share the US’s goal was to control Argentina as they believed Third World countries like that cannot be independent.

The major reason for Argentina’s failure to be politically independent was due to the president’s system from 1942 to 1943 Ramon Castillo was president and the United States had entered the war with the Allies to which they hoped that Argentina would take their side. Edelmiro’s decision to stay neutral and deny their request would result in the intervention of the Allies to pressure them by regulating their gold deposits made in the U.S. The Allies were afraid that Argentina’s trade business with Germany and their firms in the country would intervene with the Allies.

The trade system was one of the reasons why Argentina was economically stable, their ties with Germany brought in wealth which was a major reason why Argentina did not join the Allies. During Edelmiro’s presidency Juan Peron influenced some of his major decisions one of which was to side with Japan and Germany. When Peron became president in 1946 he would work closely with the World bank and First World to fight for tariffs and the right to industrialization. According to the reading by Steger he states that, “under the leadership of the United States of America and Great Britain, the major economic powers of the global North reversed their economic policies of the inter war period...introduced high tariffs on imported goods to protect national economy”(R38_Steger-EconDimGlobalization)

The conference that would take place in England would change the way that Argentina would trade, they demanded tariffs and argued that the First World had no right to deny them loans to reconstruct their factories and become modern. Peron would come to believe that, “...Import substitution and the use of foreign aid became useful as strategies for Argentina out of necessity rather than as foresight”(Prashad pg.63)Peron’s political failure as leader came from his idea of import substitution, it made the country more dependent on foreign imports and would fail to industrialize the country quicker. This idea was shamed by Paul Prebish who was an economist during Peron’s presidency and come to work closely with the United Nations to promote his research. Prebish found that, “.., the new nations needed to move from the production of raw materials to that of manufactured goods such a strategy would be implemented through an infusion of capital investment.”(Prashad pg 64) He rejected comparative advantage because it would cause the country to become more dependent on imported goods, instead they should focus on raw materials. He was successful in working with GATT and ITO to advocate for Third World Countries in conferences with the First World.

Within the country, Argentina had many internal divisions that heavily influenced the government's decisions and caused the implementation of different presidents for the next few years. Argentina had pro-neutrals and anti-neutrals in response to the involvement of the country in World War 2. Some people supported Argentina becoming part of the Allies and others believed that they should not get involved in war. This would lead to the creations of military coups that would exile a president if they did take the people’s side on major decisions such as their political positions. They dealt with these divisions mostly by allowing the de facto president to have major power in the politics of the country, this failed because as Argentina would later learn the people were divided among two viewpoints. This did not politically succeed because the people would create military coups that would overthrow the government i such as in the case of Peron’s authoritarian views it would cause the country to exile him.

Argentina was mostly threatened by the United States, Britain, and the First World countries. Their response for the United States was ignorance, they did not care for the U.S when asked to join them in World War 2, they targeted them with tariffs and seeked proper wealth distribution. For Britain their approach was to work close with them as trade partners but it failed when they wanted to join the Allies and Britain would not allow them to do so out of fear. Politically this would affect them negatively because they would be forced to declare war on the Axis and break all business with Germany, causing people to become enraged with the president’s decision. For the First World they would strongly advocate for the use of tariffs to break away from the dependence on the wealthier countries. Prashad describes their relationship with the First World to be, “the Third World states wanted to erect a discriminatory tariff regime to favor development...allow their states to use tariffs against products from industrial powers...drop their barriers to the entry of goods from the Third World.” (Prashad pg. 69)

Approaches such as these that aimed to undermine the First World and try to overcome their threats they would be successful to the extent that it would be a short term success. Steger in the reading for R38_EconDimGlobalization, he states that, “...The World Bank was initially designed to provide loans for Europe’s post-war reconstruction during the 1950s however its purpose was expanded to fund various industrial projects in developing countries around the world...General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade...a global trade organization charged fashioning...multilateral trade agreements”(Steger pg.39) The use of the World Banks would help Argentina to use modern industrialization and to try to nationalize their trade goods to become a wealthy country even if only for a little bit, it was still a huge success to a Third World country like theirs.

Argentina had many successes and failures of nation building that ranged from their politics to their economical approaches, they would fail mainly because of their government. Argentina’s government was the cause of their failure to build a nation, this was mainly due to their president’s continued exiles and their change of policies in power. If they had a set system of government and set presidents then perhaps Argentina would have been more successful but because they had many military coups kick them out they failed. Their cause of success were the economical and political policies that were imposed to adjust the economy’s trade relations and to make major decisions in World War 2. Their decision to remain neutral and to work with the World Banks would contribute to their partial success in building a nation. They could have completely succeeded if their political system was set and they did not change presidents as often. Argentina would come to play a major role in the Third World system and would be a rich country with their economical approaches to trading and their overall role in World War.