The book examines seventeen fundamental political terms that structured Argentine public life between 1880 and 1930, a period marked not only by rapid social and economic transformation but also by the consolidation of the national state. Through a careful reconstruction of the historical semantics of political language, the authors challenge the traditional view of these decades as a static “golden age,” instead revealing a dynamic arena of conceptual change and ideological contestation. Key terms such as citizenship, republic, oligarchy, democracy, federalism, and progress were not fixed categories but flexible and contested tools, mobilized by diverse actors to define the boundaries of political inclusion, legitimize authority, and shape competing projects of state-building. By restoring historical depth to this vocabulary, the book highlights both the contingency of its meanings and its enduring centrality to Argentina’s political cultures. Ultimately, it offers a semantic map that connects past disputes over the language of politics with the ongoing complexities of democratic life in Argentina.
Ana L. Romero (crisis), Beatriz Bragoni (federalismo), Darío Roldán (democracia), Eduardo Zimmermann (liberalismo), Francisco J. Reyes (regeneracionismo), Hilda Sabato (república), Inés Rojkind (opinión pública), Jimena Caravaca (estado), Juan Buonuome y Nicolás Sillitti (pueblo), Laura Cucchi (orden), Leonardo D. Hirsch (partidos políticos), María Inés Tato (nación/nacionalismo), Marianne González Alemán (revolución), Martín O. Castro (oligarquía), Natacha Bacolla (reforma/reformismo), Roy Hora (progreso), Silvana A. Palermo (ciudadanía)
