Women get tough on crime: punitive populism in Argentina

Abstract

In the 2023 presidential election in Argentina, political outsider Javier Milei shocked observers with his victory over the center-left career politician and sitting finance minister, Sergio Massa. Exceeding expectations, Milei won by a margin of over 12% and became the second non-Peronist party member to win the presidency in 28 years. Milei’s campaign focused on two main policy goals, stabilizing the economy (with a radical proposal to replace the Argentine peso with the US dollar), and implementing tough-on-crime legislation to respond to perceived rising crime rates. His campaign’s focus on tough-on-crime legislation is indicative of growing trend of punitive populism in Latin America and emblematic of classical populist strategy adapting to contemporary societal developments. Milei’s punitive agenda, which proved to be crucial to his victory, was primarily delivered by two female politicians: Patricia Bullrich and Carolina Píparo. This study, based on analysis of media framing of specific policy goals and the rhetoric employed by these two candidates, provides new contributions to the study of the relationship between media discourse, gender, and populist politics. The roles that Patricia Bullrich and Carolina Píparo have embraced within Argentina’s political sphere and the subsequent success that they have both enjoyed challenge understandings of how gender stereotypes function within the theater of punitive populism and what the future of female participation in Latin American politics might entail. I hypothesize that the phenomenon of female candidates who themselves act as “empty signifiers” for the insecurity of the electorate while adhering to gender norms subverts how media framing has historically depicted women in politics, that is, by favoring gender stereotypes rather than discussion of policy. That phenomenon results in increased attention to the political objectives of female candidates and strengthens the bond between electorate and candidate.