Governors in national politics. A review of the theory

Abstract

Based on the review of the literature on governors’ influence in Argentina’s national politics, this paper argues the need for an alternative approach to studying the role of the governors in national politics. The main objective of this work is to present a series of reflections on the existing approaches to introduce a new perspective on the subject. To this end, we examine the main arguments put forward by different authors that study the influence of governors on party discipline in the National Congress, as they analyze the influence of governors on national policy. Despite its limits, this approach provides a good starting point to address the influence of governors in national politics as a broader issue. The alternative line of research outlined in this article understands that governors in Argentina can be recognized as veto players in national politics. This veto power derives from governor´s specific interests and from decisions of the national government that affect the provinces.