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In-Depth Information
provincial oligarchs. “Political force,” said Roca, “lies in knowing how
to play the lion and the fox at the same instant.” He called his political
program one of “peace and administration” (McGann 1957, 27, 32).
Did political compromise replace factionalism? Rebellions actually
continued among the competitors for power, as factions in the prov-
inces sought outside intervention from federal authorities to destroy
their local enemies. Although federalized and professionalized, the
national army did not retreat far from politics. Civilians continued to
influence promotions and to manipulate the officer corps for their own
political gain. Opponents of the dominant PAN used obstructionism
and rebellion where they could. They plotted revolts in the political cri-
ses of 1890, 1893, and 1905 by suborning the loyalty of army officers.
Lapolíticacriolla (old-style Creole—that is, caudillo—tactics) survived
because the opposition accepted it too.
Actually, the conservative order at the turn of the century blended
liberal centralism of Buenos Aires with provincial hierarchical tradi-
tionalism. Roca was the consummate compromiser and shrewd bar-
gainer who combined these skills with his military prestige to unite
provincial political organizations. Technological advances such as the
railway and telegraph also contributed to Roca's extension of federal
power. Moreover, the expansion of trade enlarged federal coffers to
such a degree that Roca had more largesse for traditional forms of
patronage. His friends and supporters benefited from the land rush that
followed his Conquest of the Desert. The expansion of the railways
and burgeoning agricultural exports provided a rise in land values and
opened up new opportunities for political insiders. Locally based elite
families continued their dominance of provincial politics and competed
for state control. The national government at Buenos Aires could resort
to federal intervention, that constitutional centralizing instrument, to
introduce adjustments between conflicting local rivalries. It did not,
however, effect fundamental change in the principles of political par-
ticipation at the local level.
While the landowners retained political authority in the provinces,
national power had a more complex constituency in the liberal age. Not
all the politicians came from the “best families.” Many, in fact, repre-
sented recently acquired wealth, near-wealth, or a mixture of provincial
status and new connections. The PAN may have ruled in the interests
of the wealthy oligarchy, but the politicians remained a distinct class of
operatives and influence-mongers. The state in Argentina was not the
passive instrument of the economic elite but rather had developed aspi-
rations and powers separate from and increasingly antagonistic to those
 
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