When Argentina's economic and political system imploded in 2001, few imagined that only 10 years later the Southern Cone nation would be one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.
After a nimble recovery fueled by a depreciated currency and a spike in world commodity prices, today Argentina is flush with cash. Its economy is booming, and barring a global meltdown, demand from China and other emerging markets for its commodities is unlikely to fade.
So it is not surprising that President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner won more than 50 percent of the vote in the country's open primaries in August, making her victory in the upcoming October presidential election a foregone conclusion for many. Fernández and her late husband, former President Néstor Kirchner, have overseen Argentina's economic recovery since Kirchner's election in 2003, and they have asserted a more vigorous role for the state in guiding economic and social policy.