We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 January 2018
In July 1989, as Carlos Menem awaited his inauguration as president, Argentina was experiencing a situation very different from that of the early days of the Alfonsín administration. Much water had passed over the dam since the transition. The crunch of economic crisis — and the failure of the Radical administration to overcome it even minimally — had brought economic questions to center stage and relegated political claims to second place. In this setting, Argentina's new foreignpolicymakers put aside the practice, set by their predecessors, of standing on principle. From the beginning, their rhetoric emphasized three keywords realism, pragmatism, and “normality,” — as the basis of a policy which focused on the economy (Argentina, 1989a: 1).
According to Domingo Cavallo:
The national interest, in the kind of historical circumstances now prevailing, is most dramatically manifest by economic and social demands. Thus, foreign policy will be realistic and seek to create a better political relationship with the friendly countries of the world in order to resolve Argentina's urgent economic and social problems (Argentina, 1989b: 2)
This article first appeared in Spanish in the 1990-91 Anuario de Políticas Exteriores Latinoamericanas: ¿Hacia unas relaciones internacionales de mercado? edited by Jorge Heine and published by the Programa de Seguimiento de las Políticas Exteriores Latinoamericanas (PROSPEL).The English translation is by Jane Marchi.
