(The “new right” in the province of Buenos Aires. Sociological profile of the initial cabinet of governor María Eugenia Vidal -2015-)

Abstract

The article analyzes the socio-demographic, educational, and occupational profile of the initial cabinet of Governor María Eugenia Vidal, leader of Cambiemos Electoral Alliance in the province of Buenos Aires. For this, it recovers theoretical contributions of the studies on elites and resorts to the method of prosopography. The results of the study show, first, the social, educational and occupational singularity of the governing bodies of the province of Buenos Aires; second, and derived from the foregoing, the versatility of the government cast of Cambiemos in its different levels of government (provincial and national), which allows questioning the interpretations that emphasize its predominantly business composition; third, the particular links between gender and politics in the recruitment of officials, which show the presence of a deep gender gap, even in the case of a cabinet appointed by a woman; and finally, and in broader terms, some dynamics and recruitment rules of the executive elites characteristic of this “new right” that governs Argentina since 2015.