Paper short abstract:

Drawing from my ethnography among politicians who enacted a 'new region' in Argentina by bolstering 'a new federalism', this paper examines the relations between state sovereignty and an ongoing project of nation-state building marked by a specific language of consensus/ confrontation

Paper long abstract:

Federalism has been a controversial concept since the very origins of Argentine nation-state. From the bloody civil wars that followed the declaration of independence in the 19th century, to the current scenario of macro-politics of federal taxes, 'federalism' seems to work as an omnipresent metaphor of the Argentine state imagination. However, this sort of magic concept which connects both past and present, and range of dramas and possibilities of the state's legitimacy, is also a political value that enacts specific -and sometimes controversial- policy making.

Drawing from my ethnographic research among Argentine politicians who enacted a 'new region' -Región Centro of República Argentina- by bolstering 'a new federalism', in this paper I'd like to use this case to reflect about the relations between federalism and state sovereignty. This Region is a political construct lead by three provinces which are among the wealthiest within the national compound. However, and contrary to common assumptions regarding this type of policy making -i.e. political and economical negotiation/opposition with national government-, I propose that most of the debates conveyed by the concept of federalism are not about political organization neither about distribution of resources, but about an ongoing project of nation-state building, marked by a specific language of consensus/ confrontation rather than an ideology of integration/cohesion. This case, thus, calls for a particular anthropology of the state, contemplating the relations with its constituent others; namely, between spatial interactions with the state and creative actions of sovereignty, like Central Region itself

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