Circular Changes. Left and Right Turns in Inaugural Speeches

Abstract

The objective of this article is to verify that presidents who come to power with different ideological orientations show a strong similarity in the content of their inauguration speeches. These similarities are explained by the search for legitimacy in office, which leads them to locate themselves in what, in each historical moment, is conceived as the political center, with the aim of convincing a wide spectrum of citizens. This hypothesis is verified in the case of the inauguration speeches of three Argentine presidents: Néstor Kirchner (2003-2007), associated with the turn to the left in Latin America; Mauricio Macri (2015-2019), located in the turn to the right, and Alberto Fernández (from 2019 onwards), who is located again to the left. This article opens the question of whether the political turns in Latin America, from the point of view of the inaugural moment, far from behaving like a pendulum to one side and the other of the ideological spectrum, constitute, rather, circular changes.