Abstract

GERCHUNOFF, Santiago. Erosion of the Bureaucratic Capacities of the Entrepreneurial State in Argentina: The Case of ENTel in the Democratic Transition (1983-1989). Secuencia [online]. 2025, n.121, e2342.  Epub Mar 31, 2025. ISSN 2395-8464.  https://doi.org/10.18234/secuencia.v0i121.2342.

The central aim of this paper to contribute to the understanding of the complex process of crisis and erosion of the entrepreneurial state in Argentina during the period of democratic transition through an analysis of the former Empresa Nacional de Telecomunicaciones (ENTel). In this respect, the overarching question is how the dismantling of the broad consensus around public companies, still in force in the mid-1980s, and the dizzying rise of the privatization program at the end of Raúl Alfonsín’s government, were possible. To this end, through the analysis of institutional information and print media, the characteristics and evolution of ENTel’s political and bureaucratic capacities are analyzed, together with its ability to formulate and implement state-defined objectives. While most existing analyses offer an aggregated view of the process, this research focuses on a particular company and its internal dynamics during this intense period.

Keywords : entrepreneurial state; ENTel; State capacity; democratic transition.

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