The present research seeks to understand the mechanisms that made possible the autonomisation of the area of internal security in the Argentinean ministerial portfolio in December 2010, when the Ministry of Security of the Nation was created. To this end, the Argentinean state organization chart from 1983 to the aforementioned date is reconstructed. The choice of such a cut is by no means random, since it is from this period onwards that the internal security space began to move through various ministerial departments, as well as the modification of its gravity in this space. The latter can be seen through its development as a national directorate, then under-secretariat and secretariat, before finally becoming a ministry.

Subsidiarily, the research provides a study of the profiles of the political-administrative officials involved in the modification of the state architecture. To this end, the agents involved were identified, starting with the selection of under-secretaries and secretaries, as well as a national director at the beginning of the period. This selection responds to the criterion of appointments by the national executive branch, whose constitutional power extends down to the lowest level of under-secretary. In effect, this makes it possible to reconstruct the representation of the national state at a given moment in time regarding a specific policy.

In this sense, framed within the historical sociology of politics, the work seeks to delve into both theoretical and empirical interests. In relation to the former, to question the constructivist postulates of public policy and the presence or absence of advocacy coalitions, a perspective that has been characterized by its high degree of theoricity, but lack of applicability. The potential for complementarity results from the conjunction of the two theories. On the other hand, in empirical terms, understanding the processes of emergence and legitimacy of a public problem with the consequent elaboration and implementation of a public policy aimed at it, and the profiles of the agents designated for this purpose.

In methodological terms, the investigation is framed within a qualitative research design. The data collection plan included the use of secondary sources such as statistics provided by state bodies, parliamentary debates and legislative texts, resolutions contained in the Official Gazette, journalistic notes from national newspapers and bibliographic sources, complemented by the primacy of primary sources such as interviews with key agents of the period.

In line with the previous paragraph, the methods used to process the information collected are content analysis and the reconstruction of trajectories. The former makes it possible to understand the conjunction between profiles and public policies. The second, allows us to trace a primary object of sociology such as sociabilities, social ties and representations of statehood.