THE ARGENTINE DEBATE

The catastrophic consequences of misgovernment and corruption experien ced by Argentina and Brazil in the 1980s are contrasted with the subse quent achievements of reforming administrations. The brake of persiste nt corruption throughout the state and business came close to defeatin g Carlos Menem, President of Argentina. In Argentina, the Yabran affai r of mid-1995 marked an important extension of the fight against corru ption as the Economics Minister, Domingo Cavallo, took on private mono poly power. The subsequent political battle exposed the vulnerability of a narrowly-based technocratic administration to tactical alliances of old and new corruptions, against which the cultivation of reformed intermediate social institutions offers the best available defence.