Provinces_of_Argentina

Provinces of Argentina

Provinces of Argentina

Top level administrative division of Argentina

Argentina is divided into twenty-three federated states called provinces (Spanish: provincias, singular provincia) and one called the autonomous city (ciudad autónoma) of Buenos Aires, which is the federal capital of the republic (Spanish: Capital Federal) as decided by the Argentine Congress.[1] The provinces and the capital have their own constitutions and exist under a federal system.

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History

Main article: History of Argentina

During the War of Independence the main cities and their surrounding countryside became provinces though the intervention of their cabildos. The Anarchy of the Year XX completed this process, shaping the original thirteen provinces. Jujuy seceded from Salta in 1834, and the thirteen provinces became fourteen. After seceding for a decade, Buenos Aires Province accepted the 1853 Constitution of Argentina in 1861, and its capital city was made a federal territory in 1880.[2]

A law from 1862 designated as national territories those territories under federal control but outside the frontiers of the provinces. In 1884 they served as bases for the establishment of the governorates of Misiones, Formosa, Chaco, La Pampa, Neuquén, Río Negro, Chubut, Santa Cruz and Tierra del Fuego.[3] The agreement about a frontier dispute with Chile in 1900 created the National Territory of Los Andes; its lands were incorporated into Jujuy, Salta and Catamarca in 1943.[2] La Pampa and Chaco became provinces in 1951. Misiones did so in 1953, and Formosa, Neuquén, Río Negro, Chubut and Santa Cruz, in 1955. The last national territory, Tierra del Fuego, became the Tierra del Fuego, Antártida e Islas del Atlántico Sur Province in 1990.[2]

Political organization

See also: List of provincial governors in Argentina and List of provincial legislatures in Argentina

Argentina is a federation of twenty-three provinces and one autonomous city, Buenos Aires. Provinces are divided for administration purposes into departments and municipalities, except for Buenos Aires Province, which is divided into partidos and localidades. Buenos Aires City itself is divided into communes (comuna) and non-official neighbourhoods (barrios).

Provinces hold all the power that they chose not to delegate to the federal government;[4] they must be representative commonwealths and must not contradict the Constitution.[5] Beyond this, they are fully autonomous: they enact their own constitutions,[6] freely organize their local governments,[7] and own and manage their natural and financial resources.[8] Thus, each province has its own set of provincial laws and justice system, a supreme court, a governor, an autonomous police force, and a congress; in eight provinces, this legislature is bicameral, comprising an upper chamber (the Senate) and a lower chamber (the House of Deputies), while in the remaining fifteen provinces and in Buenos Aires City, it is unicameral.[9][upper-alpha 1]

In case of sedition, insurrection, territorial invasion, or any other emergent against the laws of the Nation on any province or the federal capital, the Congress has the authority to declare a federal intervention on the compromised district,[11] even in the absence of a formal request by the affected part.[12] When Congress is in recess and thus unable to decide, the President is entitled to decree such intervention, but this executive order is subject to Congressional override upon the Houses' immediate reassembly.[13] Once the intervention is declared the compromised district's government is immediately dissolved—in whole or in part depending on Congressional decision—and the President appoints a representative or intervenor, who will serve for a short time until the emergency is solved. Since 1983 four provinces were intervened, namely Catamarca, Corrientes (twice), Santiago del Estero (twice), and Tucumán.[14]

During the 20th century, some provinces have had governments that are traditionally controlled by a single family (i.e. the Saadi family in Catamarca, or the Sapag family in Neuquén); in one case, it is still the same situation as of 2009: the province of San Luis was ruled almost without a break by the Rodríguez Saá family since December 1983.[15]

Article 61 of the Constitution of the city of Buenos Aires states that "Suffrage is free, equal, secret, universal, compulsory and not accumulative. The foreign residents enjoy this right, with the correlative obligations, on equal terms with Argentine citizens registered in this district, in the terms established by the law."[16]

List of provinces

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See also

Notes

  1. The City of Buenos Aires is an autonomous city, but its local organization has similarities with the provinces: it has its own constitution, an elected mayor, a congress, and representatives to the Senate and Deputy chambers.[10]
  2. Defined by law 27,589

References

  1. [1]
    Constitution of Argentina, art. 3.
  2. [2]
    Rey Balmaceda 1995, p. 19.
  3. [3]
    Rock 1987, p. 155.
  4. [4]
    Constitution of Argentina, art. 121.
  5. [5]
    Constitution of Argentina, arts. 5, 6.
  6. [6]
    Constitution of Argentina, art. 123.
  7. [7]
    Constitution of Argentina, art. 122.
  8. [8]
    Constitution of Argentina, arts. 124, 125.
  9. [9]
    "Legislaturas de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires y provinciales – República Argentina" (in Spanish). Universidad del Salvador. Archived from the original on 2013-05-15. Retrieved 2009-09-19.
  10. [10]
    Constitution of Argentina, art. 129.
  11. [11]
    Constitution of Argentina, art. 6.
  12. [12]
    Constitution of Argentina, art. 75 inc. 31.
  13. [13]
    Constitution of Argentina, art. 99 inc. 20.
  14. [14]
    "Intervenciones en la historia". La Nación (in Spanish). 11 April 2004. Archived from the original on 11 October 2012.
  15. [15]
    "Archivo Histórico – Gobernadores provinciales de la República Argentina 1983–2007" (in Spanish). Ministerio del Interior – Presidencia de la Nación. Archived from the original on 8 June 2009. Retrieved 8 June 2009.
  16. [16]
    "Constitución de la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires" (in Spanish). Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires. October 1, 1996. Archived from the original on 2007-11-22. Retrieved 2007-12-13.
  17. [17]
    Gwillim Law (30 May 2015). "Provinces of Argentina". Statoids. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
  18. [18]
    INDEC and IGN. "División política, superficie y población" [Political division, area and population] (in Spanish). Instituto Geográfico Nacional. Retrieved March 21, 2024.
  19. [19]
    "Nuevos datos provisorios del Censo 2022: Argentina tiene 46.044.703 habitantes". Infobae. 31 January 2023. Retrieved 2023-02-04.

Bibliography

Legal documents
Books
  • Rey Balmaceda, Raúl (1995). Mi país, la Argentina (in Spanish). Buenos Aires: Arte Gráfico Editorial Argentino. ISBN 84-599-3442-X.
  • Rock, David (1987). Argentina, 1516-1987: From Spanish Colonization to the Falklands War. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0520061781.
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