An Assessment of Argentina’s Anti-Corruption Regime

Abstract

The following study attempts to elucidate why political corruption persisted in Argentina despite its comprehensive and robust anti-corruption regime between 1989 and 2019. Essentially, it asks why the country’s anti-corruption efforts failed. To answer this question, this research conducts a within-case analysis and follows a process-tracing approach to examine and compare three competing explanations that rest on cultural, economic, political and institutional determinants of corruption. Through this analysis, this research paper advances that Argentina’s politicalinstitutional structure was a constraining environment for the effective implementation of its anti-corruption measures. In this light, this paper concludes that exogenous reform is necessary for the country to curb this endemic phenomenon, although this seems improbable for the near future. Keywords: anti-corruption regime, corruption, implementation