Trajectory

Elisa Carrió was born in 1956. She finished her elementary and secondary education in the Province of Chaco. She received her law degree from the National University del Nordeste in 1978 and a doctorate in Public Law (Ph.D.) (her doctoral thesis is still pending) from the National University del Litoral.

Since the beginning, her work has been focused on the construction of a Republic that cannot exist without a democratic system, as no democracy is possible without justice and truth.

In October 2005 she was elected to Congress as National Deputy from the City of Buenos Aires, with twenty percent of the votes as the Support for an Egalitarian Republic Party (ARI) candidate. Ms. Carrió is the General Coordinator of the Hanna Arendt Institute for Political and Cultural Studies that she founded in 2004 and has already received over 4,000 students.

In 2003, as candidate of the newly created ARI Party, Ms. Carrió was the first female presidential candidate that won nearly three million votes in Argentine history. The vice-presidential candidate of the ticket, Gustavo Gutiérrez, was a member of the commission headed by Ms. Carrió that investigated money-laundering allegations in Argentina.

The ARI Party has a nationwide presence, a collective decision-making body with an equal representation of men and women, a bloc of fourteen national deputies, mayors, councilmen and provincial legislators. Under the ARI philosophy, politics entails the capacity to invent, to mediate between desire and action within a moral space. A capacity to create a new culture that leads to an alternative form of exercising power.

ELECTIVE POSITIONS:
- In 1994 she was elected delegate to the Constitutional Reform Convention, and a member of the Drafting and International Treaties Committees.
- She was elected National Deputy for the Province of Chaco for the period 1995-1999, and reelected for the period 1999-2003.

In the Argentine Chamber of Deputies:

As National Deputy, Ms. Carrió worked intensively during her two previous mandates, proposing and advancing important bills. Her legislative proposals can be read in her personal website: elisacarrio.com.ar.

She founded and chaired the Alternative for a Republic of Equals (ARI) Party bloc.

She was a member of the Impeachment and Constitutional Affairs Committees. During the period 2000-2001 she chaired the Constitutional Affairs Committee.

Between May and November 2001, she headed a Lower House Special Investigative Committee on Money Laundering Activities.

It was in March 2001, on the occasion of the parliamentary debate on the granting of special powers to the Executive, when Deputy Carrió decided to resign from the Radical Civic Union Party.

On May 17 of the same year, the new political party Alternative for a Republic of Equals was officially presented at a great public ceremony organized at the Teatro Coliseo in Buenos Aires. For the history of ARI also see elisacarrio.com.ar.

In her present parliamentary mandate she is a member of the following House Committees: Constitutional Affairs, General Legislation, Public Works and Communications and Information Technology.

Awards:
In recognition of her work, Ms. Carrió has received numerous nominations, awards and distinctions:

Parliamentary Award for her legislative work in 1996, 1997 and 1999.

Konex Merit Diploma (1998) as the best Legislator of the last ten years.

Nominated for COAS Woman of the Year Award (1998). The COAS Foundation is a nonprofit organization that provides financial assistance to public hospitals.

“Actitud de Vida” Award. Alicia Moreau de Justo Foundation.

Golden Medal awarded by the Professional Workers’ Social Insurance Fund Coordinating Unit in recognition to her outstanding performance as the 1994 Constitutional Convention Delegate.

“International Women’s Day” Award, awarded by the Association of Women Executives of Tourism Companies (AFEET).

NEXO Award (1998), for her efforts against discrimination.

Positions in the Judiciary:
Assistant Prosecutor appointed to the General Attorney’s Office of the Chaco Superior Court of Justice (equivalent to the position of an appellate judge).

Academic teaching experience:

At the National University del Nordeste Law School (UNNE), she served as a full Professor of “Constitutional Law” and “Political Law” and chaired the “Introduction to Law” Department.

She served as Assistant Director of the UNNE Institute of Political Science and Philosophy.

In view of her academic record, Ms. Carrió has been a member of the Professor Selection Committee for the Constitutional Law Department, University of Buenos Aires.

Published books and works:

“La Educación como política central del porvenir”; “La nueva matriz del saqueo” (2006).

With the contribution of Diana Mafia she compiled and wrote “Búsquedas de sentido para una nueva política”, published by the Anna Arendt Institute and Ediciones Paidós (2005).

In 2005, she also contributed to the collective work “La concepción del poder desde las mujeres” (Idea Foundation – Arendt Institute).

“Hacia un Nuevo contrato moral”. Speeches and reflections on the national reality. Editorial Norma, 2004. Three sold out editions.

She coauthored the book “Recurso de Inconstitucionalidad Local”.

Other published works: “Interpretando la Constitución” and “Acerca de la praxis interpretativa constitucional”.

Ms. Carrió is a regular columnist for Argentine national newspapers and many of her opinions and reflections have been published in Law, Sociology and Political Science Journals, and national and foreign magazines and newspapers.

In its summer 2001 issue, the Ciudadanos magazine (FAI/Corregidor) published one of her dialogues, “The epic of words”.

Ms. Carrió has written the prologues to a number of works on her specialty.

Institutional and Academic activities [1]

a) Abroad:

Member of a discussion panel organized by the Washington Office on Latin America, on issues of hemispheric concern. Washington, D.C. April 1996.

Guest participant at the "Emerging Leaders of the Western Hemisphere: Challenges of the 21st Century" Conference. Governing Council of the Society for International Development. Inter-American Development Bank. Washington, D.C. June 1997.

Participant, invited to become a regular member, to the “Women's Leadership Conference of the Americas”. An Inter-American Dialogue - International Center for Research on Women. Washington, D.C. July 1997.

Guest speaker at the “National Assembly and Constitutional Reforms in Ecuador” Seminar. Andean Parliament. Quito, Ecuador. July 1997.

Guest Member of the Executive Committee of the Legislative Leaders of the Americas Network - Inter-American Dialogue – Organization of American States. Washington, D.C. March 1998.

Guest panelist at the “International Conference on Minimum Wages in Brazil”. Federal Senate. Brasilia, Brazil. August 1998.

Participant and Permanent Member of the “Preparatory Session for the Inter-American Dialogue Annual Meeting”. Lima, Perú, October 1998.

Participant as member of the Executive Committee at the “Legislative Leaders of the Americas Network First Meeting”. Inter-American Dialogue (OAS). Dominican Republic, November 1998.

Guest speaker invited by the Center for Political Studies and the Institute of Latin American Studies, Université de Paris 1-Sorbonne to deliver several speeches on “Society, Politics and Education in Argentina” and participate in working meetings with members of the Council of the State, and prestigious personalities from the business and academic fields. Paris, France. December 1998.

Member of the Argentine Delegation to the “101º Interparliamentary Conference”. Brussels (Belgium), April 1999, where the conflict originated by the Senate seat corresponding to the Province of Chaco was discussed.

Participant, as a regular member, of the “2nd Plenary Meeting of the Women’s Leadership Conference (WLCA)”. Inter-American Dialogue. Washington, D.C. USA. April 1999.

In April 2006, she is invited to deliver a number of lectures at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University and the George Washington University, USA.

On June 14, 2006 presented her book “La concepción del poder desde las mujeres”, before the National Congress of Uruguay, as a participant of a discussion panel also attended by Deputy Beatriz Argimón, from the Bicameral Women’s Caucus, and the House Speaker Julio Cardozo Ferreira. She was also a participant of a Women in Politics meeting, attended by the ARI Secretary General, Elsa Quiroz, former national deputies Patricia Walsh (United Left Party), and Patricia Bullrich (Union for All Party), Buenos Aires legislators María Eugenia Estenssoro and Teresa de Anchorena (ARI) (all of them from Argentina), Daniela Paysse, President of the Human Rights Committee from the House of Representatives of Uruguay, Margarita Reyes, Secretary Assistant of the House of Representatives and Uruguayan deputy Adriana Peña.

In August 2006, she gave a lecture in Lima, Perú, with the Peruvian Minister of Women’s Issues, Virginia Borrá.

In September, she participated in a meeting of Paraguayan and Argentine women in Asunción, Paraguay, as a Speaker in the “The New Conception of Power: ethics and politics in government and the citizen’s role” Seminar, also attended by the President of the Paraguayan Congress, Enrique González Quintana, the Lower House Speaker, Víctor Bogado and the Head of the Institute for Citizenship, Elba Recalde.


b) In Argentina:

Panelist at the 1st Regional Seminar of Magistrates for Democracy. “Democratic Justice” Civil Association. October 1996.

Panelist at the Commemorative Symposium to celebrate the 50º Anniversary of the promulgation of the “Women Voting Rights Act” (Law 13010). Subject: women in politics. Eva Perón Historical Research Foundation. September 1997.

Panelist at the “Human Development and Education” Seminar. Human Development Institute of the National University of General Sarmiento and FUNDAPART (Participation Foundation). December 1997.

Guest speaker at the Panel Discussion on “The Situation of Women in Argentina: Achievements and Challenges”, within the framework of International Women’s Day commemoration. UN Information Center for Argentina and Uruguay. March 1998.

Guest panelist at the “Ethics and Politics” Seminar. Subject: Political parties and ethics. Argentine Senate Vice-President’s Office. Ministry of Culture and Education and UNESCO local office. April 1998.

Panelist at the “Giancarla Codrignani in Buenos Aires” public conferences. Women and Democracy. University of Buenos Aires. May 1998.

Panelist at the “Basic guidelines regarding the rules that govern the Magistrates Council”. “Democratic Justice” Civil Association. May 1998.

Guest speaker at the National University of La Plata. “Women, Politics and Power”. School of Law and Social Sciences. June 1998.

Guest speaker at the “Democratic Transformations. A Progressive Alternative to the Neoliberal Model” International Colloquium. Subject: Social Policies. Club de Cultura Socialista José Arico. July 1998.

Panelist at the “Second National and International Congress on Public Law. Seminar on Justice and Politics in times of Globalization”. Subject: Impunity and its social impact.

Panelist at the “Economic Crimes and Institutional Security” Symposium. Subject: Legislative Proposals on the Prevention of Legalization of Assets of illicit origin. Novum Millenium Foundation. October 1998.

Panelist at the “Ethics in Organizations and Business Transparency”. Subject: Ethics in Political Organizations: the costs of political corruption. Managing transparency. October 1998.

Panelist at the “Proposed Institutional Quality Index and its indicators” Seminar. Subject: Corruption and Transparency as institutional quality indicators. Compromiso Ciudadano. November 1998.

Panelist at the “Right to Information and Right to Privacy” Seminar. “Legislative proposals, Habeas Regulation, Access to Information Act, Personal Data Protection Act, and others”. Buenos Aires Bar Association – Roberto Noble Foundation. December 1998.

Participant in the “Pesos and Votes” debate. Conciencia Association. March 1999.

Guest panelist at the “A social agenda for the decade” Seminar. Subject: Work and Citizenship. Citizenship Expansion and Equality Forum. April 1999.

Lecturer at the “The Supreme Court and reelection: constitutional interpretation or political corruption?” Seminar. Subject: The political opinion. Novum Millenium Foundation. April 1999.

Panelist at the FARN Second Colloquium on Public Policy Proposals for a Sustainable Development. Subject: Right of access to information. June 1999.

Guest speaker at the cycle of conferences organized by the Argentine Business Women’s Association. June 1999.

Panelist at the “Consensus Policies for an Integral Judicial Reform” Seminar. Subject: Justice and Corruption. Novum Millenium Foundation. June 1999.

Panelist at the International Seminar on Education, Justice and Social Integration between philosophies and policies. Invited by the Center for Multidisciplinary Studies (Foundation), Seminar organized by the Cem, Ciepp, Cepc and Appeal. Rosario, August 1999.

Guest lecturer at the Human Rights Department of the National University of Entre Ríos Education School. 2000.

In February 2001, she participated in the Hearings organized by the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations regarding the laundering of money of illicit origin.

Panelist at the International Seminar on Education and Intellectual Emancipation, invited by the Educational Sciences School. National University of Entre Ríos. April 2001.

In November 2004, together with International IDEA (Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance) the “Forum of Latin American Women Political Leaders in Buenos Aires”, where a group of Latin American political women from different social strata and with different ideologies met to discuss women’s idea of power. This year the results of this forum were presented in a book titled “La concepción del poder desde las mujeres”, published by IDEA.

Organized by the Arendt Institute, she participated in the following conferences:

2006. Working breakfast on “The creative responsibility: an approximation to poetry”, with philosopher Santiago Kovadloff,

2005. Working breakfast on “The media and the concentration of media ownership”, with journalist Jorge Lanata.

Working breakfast on “The post-electoral panorama in Argentina”, with journalist Nelson Castro.

2004. Working breakfast on “Utopias”, with priest and philosopher Hugo Mujica.

“Truth, power and communication” Open Conference, with journalist Jorge Lanata.

“Truth, power and art” Open Conference, with writers Esteban Peicovich and Mempo Giardinelli.

She has taught different modules as part of the programs presently offered by the Arendt Institute: “Power, truth and the issue of the other”, in 2004, “The State-Nation crisis: future scenarios” in 2005, and “Time, domination and freedom” in 2006.

[1] Only some activities are mentioned.