Legitimation strategies in policies to modernize and innovate in public administration: a comparative approach between two municipal administrations in Córdoba, Argentina (2015-2023)

Abstract

The concept of legitimacy has become one of the most common terms in everyday political discourse and has multiplied in the literature on governance and democracy. However, it remains an incipient aspect of public administration and public policy studies. In this sense, this paper aims to explore the narratives and strategies that local administration agents use to justify and legitimise the policies implemented in terms of modernisation and public innovation in the city of Córdoba in the administrative period 2015-2019 and 2019- 2023. Methodology used For this purpose, a qualitative methodological approach was adopted, which can be placed within the perspective of argumentative policy analysis and the so-called argumentative turn in political analysis, as well as the interpretative approach or Interpretive Policy Analysis (IPA).  From the analysis carried out, different types of narratives were recognised in both administrations (aperturist, technologicist, functionalist, isomorphism, among others) with traits of continuity and total or partial ruptures in others.