Parliamentary Debate over National Territories’ Provincialization: Citizenship in Times of Classic Peronism (1946-1955)

Abstract

Abstract:

In the following article we analyze the interparty discussion that took place in the Chamber of National Deputies following provincialization projects of national territories presented by Peronism between 1951 and 1955. The Peronism proposed gradually turn the national territories into provinces, transforming La Pampa and Chaco in 1951, then Misiones in 1953 and in 1955 Formosa, Río Negro, Neuquén, and a new province formed by Santa Cruz, Tierra del Fuego, the Antarctic portion and South Atlantic Islands. Instead, the opposition, led by Radicalism, postulated an extensive provincialization to all territories simul-taneously. We argue that one of the causes of this differentiation was in the differing conceptions of citizenship that held these supporters groups: while the Peronism advocated a citizenship based on the social as a starting point for obtaining political rights, radicalism advocated a defined from the political citizenship as the basis and foundation for more progress on substantive rights.