Political Theory and the Contribution of Conceptual History. The Centenary of Argentina’s May Revolution as a horizon of meaning of the antinomy between democracy and republic in Argentinian politics

Abstract

This article analyzes how the conceptual relationship between republic and democracy that emerged during the Centenary of the May Revolution still has an impact on Argentinian politics. In those years a sector of the Argentinian political and intellectual field came to identify the republic as an institutional safeguard against plebiscitary democracy. In support of this interpretative hypothesis, we first present the epistemic and methodological foundations of R Koselleck's Conceptual History; then we explain how the appropriation of the republican and democratic traditions by 19th century Argentinian liberalism (Generations of 1837 and 1880) foreshadows some sociohistorical elements that are useful to interpret the political and cultural climate of the Centennial; and finally, we highlight the potential of this conceptual historical analysis to understand why the relationship between republic and democracy operates as a conflictive dichotomy in 21st century Argentina.