This paper analyzes the process of reconstruction of state institutions in Argentinian subnational units using comparison of three provinces. It argues that the broad variety of the quality of state institutions is a consequence of political parties’ behavior, rather than caused by culturally or historically inherited characteristics. Drawing on the concept of robust political competition, first introduced in 2007 by Anna Grzymala-Busse, this paper broadens its theoretical premises, and applies them to subnational environment. From theoretical perspective, every political party struggles to survive. In the case of the governing party, surviving means securing enough resources to stay in power, and constraining the opposition. If the opposition is not strong enough, it leads to the creation of flawed provincial institutions responsible for oversight and monitoring, expansion of clientelist networks, and introduction of political and electoral reforms in the provinces.
