Perpetuating Social Movements amid Declining Opportunity: The Survival Strategies of Two Argentine Piquetero Groups

Abstract

This article examines the recent behaviour in Argentina of two national protest groups of so called "piqueteros" or picketers (impoverished unemployed individuals who used the blockage of stra tegic roads and bridges to force government concessions) that emerged politically in the build-up to the crisis of 2001-2002. Using theoretical concepts developed by McAdam, Tarrow, and Tilly in understan ding social movements, the author analyses what he calls the "survival strategy" adopted by their lea ders as the political opportunities that produced their initial growth gave way to a more hostile envi ronment with the normalization of Argentine politics under the Kirchner administration. While the two piquetero groups studied differ considerably in terms of their politics and ideology, both ended up de pending on the same traditional tactic of utilizing important government contacts to obtain the resources necessary for organizational maintenance, despite their nominal identity as radical protesters against the present political system.