In the name of the law: Political, institutional, and socio-economic implications after the first childhood law in Mendoza, Argentina (1995-2005)

Abstract

After the Convention on the Rights of the Child was ratified in Argentina, the province of Mendoza was the first to substantially adjust its internal regulations. The provincial Law No. 6354, enacted in 1995, resulted in resistances, delays, and misinterpretations arising from the judicial corporation and administrative bureaucracy, which need to be further analyzed. This study aims to analyze the political, institutional, and legal continuities and ruptures that have occurred since the enactment of provincial Law No. 6354 between 1995-2005 in the context of the country's first wave of regulatory reforms. This study allowed for an understanding of the resistances from both official and opposition sectors, as well as the significant influence of international organizations. The institutionality was constructed and agreed upon between the government and international organizations with characteristics related to the neoliberal postulates of the time. Finally, the social outbreak was an opportunity for a resistant judiciary to reintroduce tutelage over poor children, against a weakened economic, social, and political administrative power.