Peron and Ppoulism

592 Words3 Pages
Analyze the effects of Peron’s populist programs in Argentina. During the beginning half of the 20th century, populism started to grow and became widely used in Latin America. Populism is the relationship between a charismatic leader and the masses. It is based off of cultural pride and nationalism. Populism also bypasses traditional political institutions such as the church. Peron, a populist leader in Argentina, made many programs which seemed to benefit the people, but in reality only created long term effects that failed and left the people and the economy in devastation. During the leadership of Peron, most of the country liked him, especially the urban-industrial class. They were happy with him because he gave them more rights, health benefits, and money. The people were have said to point at their pockets smiling, when asked about Peron. In looking at the short-term effects of Peron and his populist programs, one would think that he was a great leader, dedicated to the bettering of his country and people, but looking further into these and analyzing the long-term effects of his programs, many problems arise. During Peron’s time in office he created many populist programs, to benefit the people. Peron created many programs to raise the standard of living for workers. For instance he raised the minimum wage, shortened work hours, and gave workers the right to participate in labor unions, even if these unions were government controlled. The effects of these programs was very bad because Peron used government money to raise the minimum wage and the standard of living, therefore creating a bigger debt in the Argentine economy. At the time when he was raising wage, the economy was going strong due to the ISI programs and Argentine’s new self-sufficient economy. Only when the economy started to decline, these populist programs were harder to continue through,
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