ABSTRACT
The problems of political and economic development combined with associated policy choices are key elements of the domestic environment. Indigenous elites, such as Argentina’s classic-liberals and statist-nationalists, may turn to the external environment for support in mobilizing human and material resources, resolving domestic conflict, and generating national unity. Argentina has experienced political decay since 1930 because the legitimacy and authority of institutions, processes, and political parties have declined, causing an approach to what Samuel P. Huntington has described as a praetorian society. In the case of Argentina many of the most powerful imperatives for foreign policy derive from the operation of the country’s economic cycle and associated internal demands for reform and redistribution. Argentina’s wealth, position in the international power hierarchy, and ability to exploit changing conditions in the international system assure it an important role in world affairs.
