Within a democratic system, the use of the term “dictatorship” has both an emotional and a technical meaning. The former is generally used to describe a government’s authoritarian use of power.
The latter refers to bending the law — sometimes even suspending existing legislation — with the aim of achieving goals that the government deems highly important.
President Javier Milei has carried out several acts that can be defined as “technically dictatorial.” The suspension of the university funding law is one of them.
How we got here
Argentina was experiencing severe inflation when Milei took office in December 2023. According to official data, annual inflation in 2023 was 211.4%, while in the following two years it was 117.8% and 31.5%, respectively.
