Unemployment and Clientelism: The Piqueteros of Argentina

This paper sheds light on possible explanations for the success and sustainability of the piqueteros social movement in Argentina, developed from a comparative perspective based on Latin America. I show which institutional arrangements, political actors, and configurations of power contributed to the success of the piqueteros. Applying the basic principles of the rational choice approach, I find that the success of the piqueteros movement was produced by the current political division in the ruling party (the Peronist party), by the over-regulated Argentine labor market, and by the impact of the Argentine economic crisis through the unemployment rates.