Action inside and outside political parties: nostalgia and adaptation in support of official organizations in Argentina and Brazil since 2003

Abstract

As a result of gathering and analyzing journalistic material as well as documents and manifests released by the organizations, this paper approaches the issue of how political activism is conceived and experienced within the active and organized supporting ensembles (in and out of the presidents’ party of origin) of the Argentine and Brazilian governments since 2003. Those conceptions are analyzed specially with respect to the way the subjects refer to what political commitment and political identities were like in the past, concluding there is a double phenomenon. On one hand, there is an adaptation, in their own and every-day political activities and practices, to an environment defined by uncertainty and volatility. On the other hand, they express nostalgic definitions and references to a past in which political identities were allegedly stable, and parties (or their own party, at least) had an intense organic life and a permanent bond with voters.