[tra:ce] Lecture: Javier Milei's Libertarian Experiment

Nicolás Aguila is a member of [tra:ce] and a research associate at the Professorship of Politics, Transformation and Sustainability at Witten/Herdecke University. Originally from Argentina, he is currently writing his PhD on the development of the country's national currency.

Aguila opened his talk by outlining the situation before the 2023 election: high inflation, weak growth, rising unemployment. Against this background, he addressed why Milei was able to win a majority, which ideological references shape his programme, and who his international allies are.

The focus of the talk was the period since Milei took office in December 2023. The central concept here, according to Aguila, is the so-called chainsaw, under whose banner Milei's government considerably reduced public spending. In the short term, this brought about the hoped-for fall in the monthly inflation rate, which has been rising again since May 2025. At the same time, Aguila pointed to further consequences such as a high number of company insolvencies, rising unemployment and precarious employment, and falling wages and pensions.

Beyond the economic data, Aguila turned to political and social developments. He spoke about governing by decree and bypassing Congress, about corruption allegations against the government, and about how the police have dealt with journalists and demonstrators. Milei's positioning against what he calls woke ideology also came up, as did the consequences for women and LGBTQ+ people and the funding cuts and legislative changes in environmental policy. Aguila closed by asking how liberal Milei's policies actually are, and by tracing the development of his approval ratings.

The question is relevant beyond Argentina: Elon Musk as well as politicians from the AfD and the FDP point to the Argentinian example. The discussion that followed turned accordingly on how seriously a politician like Milei should be taken, on the current situation and mood in Argentina, and on what other countries can learn from the Argentinian experience. Aguila's assessment was critical: in his view, the results so far speak against transferring the model elsewhere.