Non-institutionalized citizen participation, protest and democracy in Argentina

In the 1990s, Argentines have participated in numerous collective protests to express their discontent with the consequences of reforms by the state, especially in provinces where, pressured by social needs, there exists a high level of institutional instability. This article presents the case of Tupac Amaru, a piquetero's organization of unemployed and informal workers created in 1999 in the province of Jujuy as a way to participate, rather than through political parties and labor unions. The protest actions of the piqueteros, legitimized by governments as the only way to channel demands for goods and services, would be articulated with actions of territorial intermediation around the resolution of problems and the availability of services.