On November 23, the book “Argentina: Una sociedad anómica” (“Argentina: An Anomic Society”) was launched at the bar association Colegio de Abogados, in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The book was presented by its authors Antonio María Hernández, an Attorney specialised in constitutional law, Eduardo Fidanza, the Director of Poliarquía and Daniel Zovatto, Director for Latin America and the Caribbean of International IDEA.
The book provides different views based on a survey carried out in 2014/2015 by International IDEA. The survey comprising a very important finding indicating that 83 per cent of Argentines are disobedient and offenders in relation to the law.
Hernández affirmed that:
“The most arduous and most worrisome data of the first survey have been confirmed. Eighty per cent of those surveyed argue that Argentine society live outside of the framework of the law and constitution.”
Eduardo Fidanza said:
"From my point of view I consider that the responses are consistent with 10 years ago, but what struck me most was that people say that we Argentines do not agree on what is good and what is bad. 43 per cent stated that if they have a reason or excuse, they will go against the law. Nine per cent would examine the circumstances.”
Daniel Zovatto mentioned:
"80 per cent of Argentines say that those who violate the laws are others, and not themselves. We all agree that 80 per cent of Argentines live outside the law, but we don’t want to acknowledge this problem.”
Yet for Zovatto not all the data that comes out of this second survey is negative. Among the good results he noted “democracy holds 76 per cent of support in Argentina, 20 per cent above the regional average for Latin America.” According to Zovatto, “in these 33 years of democracy, a citizen consensus developed to never again lose democracy, no matter the difficulties the country is facing.”
This second survey on constitutional culture in Argentina was carried out by International IDEA and Poliarquía Consultores in seven cities of Argentina in November and December 2014. The survey and the publication (the latter entrusted to EUDEBA) follows up on the ‘First Survey of Constitutional Culture in Argentina’, which was held in 2005, and its results are found in the book “Argentina: una sociedad anómica.” This second edition analyses the perceptions and attitudes of Argentine society in the face of issues such as democracy, the law, human rights, political actors, and the institutions. This project is based on a series of similar reports produced in Mexico, Costa Rica and Bolivia, which were tailored to each country. The directors of both surveys were Antonio Maria Hernandez and Daniel Zovatto. The first survey also included the participation of sociologist Manuel Mora y Araujo, and the second of sociologist Eduardo Fidanza.
