Strategies of the State of Neuquén in the Setting of Globalization. Proposals for the Economic Reconversion of a Mediterranean Space

Abstract

In the present paper we consider the State of Neuquén, a space at once peripheral and landlocked, and the strategies devised for its national and international inclusion as it faces the challenges of the new millennium. Until the late 1980s, Neuquén was an active participant in development; its particular developmental dynamic was based on the action of the state at the provincial level and marked by productive enclaves maintained by the state-run companies that exploited its resources. At the beginning of the 1990s this model suffered a crisis brought on fundamentally by the policy of privatization and by the local governments limited ability to respond to the demands emerging from a territory in crisis. In this context, our paper analyzes the attempts at modification of the regions productive profile, within the frame of the governing partys internal political divisions and the debate over the viability of the traditional model of development based on hydrocarbons.