New institutionality and local projection after the Argentinian port privatization. The case of Bahía Blanca and Rosario

Abstract

This paper analyzes the institutional and regulatory structures emerging from port privatization during the 90s in Argentina. The study departs from main sector transformations taking place at global scale and is based on the conceptual framework that sustains new institutional forms replacing former national government role. This new port institution shares power between public and private actors. How does it function? In what sense this new institution influences on local governance conditions? Departing from these central questions, this article focuses in Bahia Blanca and Rosario ports experiences, analyzing some consequences emerging from an institutional reform modeled by private capital valorization and mediated by a public power shared between two territorial levels (province-municipality). New questions posited from this analysis point a review of the idea of port as a propulsive force of local economic development. These main reflections are discussed revisiting the nature of city-port links and its influence on local economy taking place since reform.

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