BUENOS AIRES – “Hope for the best, plan for the worst,” the old expression goes.

It didn’t happen in Argentina, though.

The unexpected result of the Aug. 11 primary, which favored the opposition in a conclusive way, triggered the government’s worst nightmare: a market panic, which fed back into the crisis and further reduced President Mauricio Macri’s already thin chances of re-election. As a result, the country entered a three-month-long standoff that reinforced the natural short-termism of Argentine politics – and laid bare the fact that no one quite knows what to do next...

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