The "Authentic Democracy". A Facet of Argentinean Nationalism in the 1930s and 1940s

Right-wing nationalism in Argentina has generally been seen as an elitist and antidemocratic movement. Nonetheless, there were also nationalist intellectuals who built bridges toward a "democratic tradition". In the context of the Great Depression, Carlos Ibarguren and Ernesto Palacio announced that "false" liberal democracy would give way to a more "genuine" one: Italian Fascism, which would rebuild the bonds between the State and society, on the basis of charismatic leaders, corporatism, and economic interventionism. According to these intellectuals, the end of the parliamentary system and liberalism would also put an end to political disputes and make possible collaboration among social classes. The article examines this authoritarian reformulation of democracy, which was the result of Palacio and Ibarguren's reading of the Argentinean and international political scenarios.