Topic: 2025 – Authoritarianism and Democracy
Country: Argentina
Delegate Name: Savannah Frey
One of the most important issues relating to authoritarianism and democracy in the current day is the discussion of new-age authoritarianism and how its increasing popularity among medium-income countries impacts outlooks for democratic systems. According to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in 2023, a median of 31% across 24 countries are supportive of authoritarian systems, and many people are becoming increasingly critical of the effectiveness of representative democracies. In several countries this same survey found that support for a stronger central leader who can operate without interference from a parliament has increased significantly since 2017, including Brazil, Argentina, South Korea, Kenya, and Mexico. Other statistics that were found from this survey were that people who leaned more to the right ideologically were more in favor of a strong central leader, as well as people who were less educated, those who lived on lower incomes, and those who lived in middle-income countries like India and Indonesia. The UN must decide how new-age authoritarianism impacts countries, and the costs and benefits of this system of government.
Argentina is a country that is considerably intrigued by the rising emergence of authoritarian tendencies in governments, especially considering the country’s history with authoritarianism in the government. For most of Argentina’s sovereign history, their political institutions have been unstable; organizations have placed investments in the current institution, which makes switching to a better alternative difficult and costly. Argentina has had several periods of authoritarian rule, most notably 1976-1983, where many horrific human rights violations occurred under a military dictatorship. Despite this, Argentina lived under a relatively steady democratic government for some time and continues to do so, which is seen in its free and fair elections. The election of Javier Milei in 2023 brought in a new wave of authoritarian aspects of government. Milei’s candidacy has brought a myriad of new policies into Argentina’s government, including a large number of economic reforms meant to stabilize the economy, a request to gain expansive emergency powers from Congress in order to bypass normal legislative procedures, severe social program cuts, and reduced government spending. Argentina is not openly supportive of authoritarian governments, however. As a part of Milei’s new plan for foreign relations, he stated that he wants Argentina to connect with liberal democracies; he has already distanced Argentina from the Latin American region and aligned with several far-right movements globally, most notably being his relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Argentina would propose to solve this problem by aligning with nations governed by liberal democracies. Argentina believes that a system of government that harms its people through violence should be discouraged, and a strong central leader that is loosely bound to Parliament or Congress would be greatly beneficial in the current political landscape. Argentina does not wish to infringe on the sovereignty of any country, and would be opposed to any plan that wishes to minimize or prohibit strong central leaders in government. Argentina wishes to encourage like-minded countries to unite with them on this topic. Argentina hopes to find allies in similarly-opinioned countries like Brazil, China, and the US.
Sources:
https://www.cels.org.ar/web/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Briefing_Milei_Alemania_EN.pdf
https://www.swp-berlin.org/en/publication/javier-mileis-ideology-and-policy
https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/argentina/#government
https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2025/country-chapters/argentina
