Social movements and subnational income inequality: Contributions to the comparative study of two Argentine provinces
Currently, income inequality between the richest and poorest sectors of the population is a serious problem. Latin America is one of the regions in the world where inequality is most pronounced: 10% of the population draws 55% of the national average income.
However, in federal countries, regional or national averages do not fully capture the variations that occur within each country. Argentina is particularly interesting due to its high degree of decentralization and the variation in inequality levels within and between provinces as well as the fluctuations that have occured over time.
In the same country, why are some regions more unequal than others? Although the literature has explored many determinants of subnational income inequality (demographic, structural, fiscal, public policy, political-institutional, and social), the role of social movements has been omitted until now.1
Social movements and their relationship with subnational states are relevant in the study of subnational income inequality for two main reasons: the increase and decrease in inequality in the 1990s in Latin America coincided with the emergence of social movements as political actors and the expansion of discretionary social policies channeled through social movement organizations.
Unlike studies that consider civil society and social movements as external actors to the state that influence redistribution outside state institutions by several means of which public protests/demonstrations are perhaps the most effective, I argue that the relationships between the state and social movements are mutually constitutive. Social movements can also actively influence the processes of interaction against, through, and within the state without necessarily losing their autonomy.
On one hand, social movements can relate to the state using non-institutionalized channels and resorting to contentious political action, primarily public protest. Public protests can influence inequality and redistribution of public funding. In states with low levels of public protests and demonstrations, there is a more regressive rather than progressive allocation of government subsidies, further deepening inequality. Moreover, social protest has a greater impact on redistribution in districts with high inequality than in more egalitarian ones.
However,beyond contentious political action and protest, social movements impact a variety of activities that do not necessarily imply a conflictual relationship with the state. These relationships can involve cooperation, collaboration, and participation in the formulation and implementation of public policies. The literature has shown that for the successful implementation of public policies, it is necessary for the state to establish cooperative relationships with civil society actors. Social movements, besides influencing redistribution through protest, can also affect inequality within state institutions.
The hypothesis I propose is that when social movements establish cooperative links with subnational states and use institutionalized channels to influence public policy outcomes, the reduction of subnational income inequality will be greater than when these mechanisms do not exist. To study this relationship, I initially propose to look at two Argentine provinces with the relevant characteristics for a comparative study: Chaco and Corrientes during 2003-2018.
Chaco and Corrientes
Comparing Argentine provinces is relevant due to the presence of institutional and cultural factors common to all the cases that can be used as control variables in a study. Specifically, Chaco and Corrientes are two neighboring Argentine provinces located in the north of the country that are historically, culturally, and economically connected.
Initially, both had high levels of inequality in 2003. However, while Chaco reduced its GINI coefficient from 49.8 to 38.9 in 2018, Corrientes went from 50.5 in 2003 to 41.4 in 2018. By the end of this period, Chaco was well below the national average, while Corrientes remained above it. Could the relationship between social movements and subnational states explain these results?
Chaco has a denser, more organized, and more horizontal civil society that relates to the provincial state through institutionalized channels. In contrast, in Corrientes, civil society is less dense, more hierarchical, with fewer grassroots organizations, and without institutionalized channels in the civil society-provincial state relationship.2
To preliminarily examine the relationships between provincial states and social movements and their impact on inequality, I developed a database from secondary sources and news articles to identify characteristics of the social movements in each province. Specifically, I focused on the so-called "piquetero" movement, a social movement composed of workers outside the formal labor market. This includes the informal urban sector –self-employed workers, street vendors, unregistered employees– rural workers, and the unemployed. They differ from formal workers with labor contracts, who generally organize under unions.
From this research, I identified that Chaco has a stronger, though more heterogeneous and fragmented, piquetero movement than Corrientes. In Chaco, I identified 38 social movement organizations. In contrast, in Corrientes, I identified 10. As Román points out, while social movements in Chaco exhibit a wide political-ideological spectrum, Corrientes has a lower level of social movement density, with fewer movements and less fragmentation.
A second aspect to consider is the existence of institutionalized mechanisms and dialogue forums between the state and social movements, as well as the participation of social movement representatives in subnational cabinets. “We have participation of representatives of social movements in the provincial government. Many people who are part of the cabinet are also part of social organizations” (Lucas Cepeda, Undersecretary of Employment of Chaco, interview on June 21, 2021; quoted in Del Tredici 2022, 112). As Del Tredici (2022) notes, in Chaco, unlike Corrientes, social movements have institutionalized mechanisms for participation in the provincial state, allowing them to influence public policy decisions that impact the territories. In Corrientes, the relationship between social movements and the provincial state is conflictive, and no institutionalized mechanisms of cooperation between the state and social movements are recorded.3
These aspects provide only a preliminary contribution to understanding how the relationship between subnational states and social movements could impact subnational income inequality in federal countries. Continued research is needed in order to understand how the relationship between the state and its social movements can lead to better public policy outcomes and reduce inequality.
Nayet Kademián
Nayet Kademián is a PhD candidate in Political Science at the National University of San Martín. Her primary areas of research are subnational politics, income inequality, and social movements in federal states. She is part of the LoGov research project and was a secondee at the Institute of Politics and Public Law at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich (Germany) and the Faculty of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Warsaw (Poland). Her Twitter is @nayetkademian
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This blog is part of the LoGov project. The project has recevied funding from th European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No 823961.
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