"The Open Veins Remain Open": GM Soy Cultivation, Socio-Environmental Struggle and the Political Economy of Contemporary Peronist Development in Argentina

Abstract: Argentina is a pioneer in practicing export-oriented extractivism as a model of socio-economic development. A prevalent extractive project is genetically modified (GM) soy, which was adopted under neoliberal governance in the 1990s and has had a variety of socio-environmental consequences in the country. During the progressive, Peronist, ‘post-neoliberal’ Kirchner administrations (2003-2015), government ties to anti-GM social movements were established, but soy cultivation continued. Since 2019, Argentina is again governed by a Peronist government, led by President Alberto Fernández. Through a Gramscian framework, this study explores the significance of current Peronism in government for the continuance of GM soy cultivation, examines responses to this model by socio-environmental movements, and challenges to advance alternatives. The empirical data was generated through semi-structured interviews and participant observation during fieldwork in Argentina between February-April 2023. Results show that contemporary Peronism in government enables the continuation of the extractivist development model and GM soy cultivation through its political contradictions, reproducing the material structure and exercising passivizing patronage politics within civil society. Socio-environmental movements reject the soy model, largely perceiving the current government as more pro-agribusiness than previous Kirchnerism. Their strategies to counter the model aim at advancing counterhegemonic perceptions in civil society through a war of position and, in some cases, practicing what can be seen as a war of movement using judicial mechanisms. Main challenges to advancing alternatives include the multifaceted power of the current development model and its reproduction through consent and coercion, financial challenges for movements, and political disagreements among these regarding relations to Peronism in government.