CHARACTERISTICS OF THE POLITICAL REGIME IN ARGENTINA DURING THE PRESIDENCY OF JAVIER MILEI

Abstract

The article provides a comprehensive analysis of the political regime characteristics in Argentina under the presidency of Javier Milei (2023-2026). The study examines the ideological foundations of the regime, which combine an anarcho-capitalist doctrine with libertarian populism, and traces their operationalization through specific legislative initiatives and executive practices. The theoretical framework draws on Guillermo O’Donnell’s concept of «delegative democracy», Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt’s indicators of authoritarian behavior, and Cas Mudde and Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser’s definition of populism as a «thin ideology».
The empirical analysis covers the trajectory of key reforms - from the sweeping Necessity and Urgency Decree to the «Ley Bases» package - and their macroeconomic consequences, including the achievement of the first fiscal surplus in fourteen years alongside a simultaneous rise in poverty levels. Special attention is devoted to the 2024-2026 protest cycle, the labor reform conflict as a stress test for democratic resilience, and the institutional dynamics of the opposition space.
Through comparative analysis of Freedom House and V-Dem data, the article identifies analytically significant divergence between the formal attributes of electoral democracy, which remain stable, and a substantive deterioration of liberal norms in the domains of executive accountability, freedom of expression, and civic space. The study concludes that the Milei regime defies conventional typological categories and constitutes a distinct hybrid configuration - a «radical reformist regime» that operates within formal democratic institutions while systematically eroding their liberal foundations. The article further identifies the fragmentation of the opposition, external financial dependence on the United States and the IMF, and the «demonstration effect» of Argentina’s experience for the broader rightward turn in Latin America as structural factors shaping the regime’s trajectory ahead of the 2027 presidential election.