Argentina: Three institutional reforms of Kirchnerism

Abstract

This paper deals with three institutional reforms carried out during the first administration of President Nestor Kirchner. In 2006, the National Congress, with the majority of the ruling party, approved the bill to reform the Council of the Judiciary, the regulation of Necessity and Urgency Decrees and the law called «superpowers». While these reforms meant more government instruments in the hands of the president, they also implied a widening gap between the branches of government and a less republican Democracy. The study analyzes how these reforms increased the powers of the president taking a step closer to a quasi-hegemonic type of presidential system.