Quand la « république » d’Alberdi se fait « monarchiste »

Abstract

Juan Bautista Alberdi’s works have often been studied through the prism of “republicanism”, particularly since the author has recommended in his Bases the necessary construction of a “possible republic” before the establishment of a “real republic” when the young Argentinean nation will have educated its people in the principles that have to rule such a regime. This article voluntarily does not employ the terms of “republic” or “republicanism” as categories of analysis, in order to explain what could be considered as contradictions in the author’s speeches,who, according to the periods, categorically defends the Republican regime or, on the contrary, the monarchy. Alberdi plays with the wide semantic plasticity of the word “republic”, which allows him not to oppose it to the “monarchy” in many cases. Moreover, ‒ Alberdi is, above all, a pragmatic empiricist ‒ the question of the political regime to adopt does not represent the heart of his concern ; the political regime is only a means to an end, which would be civilization and progress. The best political regime will be, thus, the one that will assure peace, order, and conditions for development, whether that regime is a monarchy or a republic.

Keywords

• Argentina
• republicanism
• Alberdi
• jurisdictional culture
• political ideas history