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| (Selección de artículos: mayo de 2025) |
The 'agropopulist shift' toward authoritarianism: the conflict between the MAS government and coca growers from the Bolivian Yungas Daniel Ortiz Gallego The Journal of peasant studies. 2025 Progressive agrarian populist movements might walk the path toward authoritarianism under concrete hegemonic struggles, social class relations, and state-society dynamics. I propose the notion of the ‘agropopulist shift’ to draw attention to how these movements, when accessing state power, might deploy authoritarian tactics against their former class allies. To illustrate this argument, I analyze a case that demonstrates how, and the extent to which, the government of the former Bolivian president Evo Morales and his political party, the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS), shifted toward authoritarian populist politics to address the social dissent of the coca growers from Los Yungas region. Are Latin American populists more likely to introduce direct democracy?
Saskia P. Ruth-Lovell, Yanina Welp
Contemporary Politics. 2023
This article investigates the relationship between populism in power and the expansion of mechanisms of direct democracy (MDDs) in Latin America. We hypothesise that the introduction of new or additional MDDs is more likely under populist than non-populist presidents due to core populist ideas. We then add a conditional explanation to this ideational argument grounded in a strategic calculus and hypothesise that the expansion of MDDs is even more likely if the political context in which populist presidents are embedded provides strategic incentives to promote MDDs. We test these hypotheses by means of logistic and Poisson regression analyses using a newly compiled data set covering information on the introduction and reform of MDDs in 18 Latin American countries from 1980 to 2018. Our results indicate that expansion of MDDs is, indeed, more likely promoted by populist presidents and that this association is conditioned by the degree of presidential approval. As fake news como base do populismo de direita brasileiro: entre o político e o digital, o algoritmo Renata de Oliveira Carreon Revista Latinoamericana De Estudios Del Discurso. 2023 O populismo, entendido como uma forma autoritária de democracia eleitoral, tem prosperado de maneira global. A figura do populista carismático, messiânico e “porta-voz” do povo contra “os inimigos” desponta em várias nações em resposta ao apelo de uma parcela da população à retomada do conservadorismo. Em razão disso, objetivamos compreender (i) de que forma as fake news divulgadas por Bolsonaro são o sustentáculo do populismo autoritário no Brasil e (ii) como o digital é a própria condição de possibilidade desses dizeres. Como corpus, utilizaremos enunciados que circularam ao vivo pelas redes do ex-presidente e que foram considerados mentirosos pela plataforma de checagem Aos Fatos. Em seguida, dividiremos o material em: (a) ideologia de gênero; (b) defesa do aborto; (c) defesa do uso de drogas; (d) incentivo à criminalidade. Para tal, mobilizaremos o arcabouço teórico e metodológico da Análise de discurso produzida no Brasil por Orlandi (2020a, 2020b) e Dias (2018, 2020). Authoritarian participationism and local citizens’ assemblies in Latin America: A cross look at three national cases Armando Chaguaceda, Raudiel Peña Barrios De Gruyter Handbook of Citizens’ Assemblies, 2023 This chapter analyses the legal framework, institutions, and processes of citizens’ assemblies (CA) in three Latin American authoritarian contexts. These are the cases of the Popular Councils in Cuba (PC), the Councils and Cabinets of Citizen Power in Nicaragua (CCCP), and the Communal Councils in Venezuela (CC). Under the logic of “authoritarian participationism” these CAs engage citizens, grouped by the State from the place of residence, with functions of mobilization, consultation, and (very limited) impact on local politics and administration, operating as spaces for legitimizing government interests and have not favored the participation of citizens based on autonomy and plurality Authoritarian Populism and Patriarchal Logics: Nicaragua’s Engendered Politics Cristina Awadalla Social politics. 2023 This article examines contemporary Nicaraguan politics to understand how gender conservatism structures the populist project of Ortega–Murillos (OrMu), the presidential couple. Through feminist discourse analysis of state texts, I examine the cultural strategies the regime uses to represent itself. I put this narrative into conversation with feminist critiques to outline how antifeminism is a central political strategy of the OrMu regime. By doing so, this article aims to demonstrate how the Nicaraguan case can advance our typologies of contemporary authoritarianisms and the social relations these political projects constitute Authoritarian Populism as a Response to Crisis: The Case of Brazil Esra Akgemci̇ International Relations. 2022 This article demonstrates that the authoritarian populist strategy is most appealing when leaders create a sense of crisis and present themselves as having the only solution. The article underlines three performative methods of how Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil offered simple answers for a crisis and portrayed other political actors as the responsible ones to be removed. Firstly, nativism presents a conservative view on how politics should be structured by perceiving all «non-natives» as threatening. Secondly, messianism, the fetishism of Bolsonaro as a «messiah» who leads the way in the battle between «good» and «evil,» serves to reinforce the support of the Evangelist base against «PT members.» Finally, conspiracism provides an easy way to eradicate ambiguities and helps to fuel an antagonism against the «enemy.» Authoritarian, But Not Nativist: Classifying Far-Right Parties in Latin America André Borges, Lisa Zanotti Political studies. 2024 Research on far-right parties has mostly focused on Western Europe, where anti-immigration agendas and related nativist ideas have played a major role in right-wing radicalization. In this article, we analyze the rise of the far right in Latin America, a region where immigration has been much less prominent in public debates. Drawing on the 2020 Chapell Hill Expert Survey, we propose to assess the extent to which Latin American far-right parties fit existing conceptualizations that identify nativism and authoritarianism as the core characteristics of this party family. Given the relative unimportance of nativism as a distinguishing feature of cases of right-wing extremism/radicalism in the region, we propose a more parsimonious conceptualization of the far right. We also develop a typological classification and find that authoritarian-fundamentalist parties that embrace an extreme form of religious conservatism are the most common subtype of far-right party in Latin America Authoritarians and “revolutionaries in reverse”: Why collective narcissism threatens democracy Agnieszka Golec de Zavala Group processes & intergroup relations. 2024 Collective narcissism is a belief that the ingroup deserves but is denied special treatment and recognition. It is a projection of the narcissistic need to be recognized as better than others on the social level of the self. It is an aspect of ingroup identification, one of the ways group members favour their ingroup. National narcissism is associated with collective narcissism of advantaged national subgroups (e.g., Whites, men). National collective narcissism and collective narcissism of advantaged groups similarly predict discrimination of disadvantaged national subgroups (e.g., racial minorities, women) and legitimization of group-based inequality. Members of disadvantaged groups who endorse national narcissism internalize beliefs legitimizing inequality. Ultraconservative populists propagate national narcissism to undermine the political system that does not sufficiently serve the interests of advantaged groups. National narcissism predicts patriotism and nationalism. Once the three forms of national favouritism are differentiated, it becomes clear that patriotism does not come at the expense of nationalism, discrimination, societal polarization, or erosion of democracy. Instead, it may be a remedy against them Autoritarismo, dictadura y la crisis del derecho en América Latina Jorge Mario Rodríguez Trayectorias Humanas Trascontinentales. 2023 El objetivo de este artículo es explicar algunas facetas de la crisis del derecho en el ámbito jurídico global para localizar las claves de la crisis del derecho en América Latina, concentrando su atención en América Central. Se sostiene que la crisis jurídica de esta región es una expresión diferenciada de una deriva autocrática global que hunde sus raíces en la profunda permacrisis que engloba al mundo entero. Las raíces de dicha crisis se encuentran en la persistencia anómala del neoliberalismo, cuyo nivel de precariedad y desigualdad ha llevado a una deriva populista reaccionaria. En el caso de América Latina, dicha crisis se conjunta con la debilidad crónica del Estado. Por lo tanto, es necesario superar las patologías sociales para que la democracia tome mayor fuerza en el mundo. La recuperación de la esfera jurídico-política es necesaria para que la humanidad pueda encontrar soluciones a la desigualdad global, la distopía tecnológica y el cambio climático. Como ejemplo extremo de esta crisis, se analiza el caso de América Central, región en donde se ha acelerado el retorno de las dictaduras. El artículo se cierra con la enunciación de la creencia de que, a pesar de tantos problemas, el desarrollo de los derechos humanos sigue abriendo una brecha para la esperanza Autoritarismo, izquierdas y democracia participativa en Venezuela Margarita López Maya Nueva Sociedad. 2023 ¿Cómo acabó la Revolución Bolivariana en la deriva autoritaria actual? Un recorrido por la Constitución de 1999 y las diferentes instituciones de la democracia participativa permite ver las tensiones existentes en la época de Hugo Chávez, quien allanó el camino para una vía iliberal, y cómo estas habilitaron una nueva forma de autoritarismo bajo Nicolás Maduro “Bolivarian” and Left-Wing Populism in Latin America Kurt Weyland Democracy's Resilience to Populism's Threat: Countering Global Alarmism. 2024 This chapter documents the restrictive conditions under which leftwing, “Bolivarian” populism managed to destroy democracy in Latin America. Only Hugo Chavez of Venezuela (1999–2013), Evo Morales of Bolivia (2006–2019), and Rafael Correa of Ecuador (2007–2017) accomplished this feat because they benefited from the high instability plaguing their countries’ presidential systems and, at the same time, from the enormous hydrocarbon revenues provided by the global commodities boom. By distributing massive benefits to ample population sectors, they won overwhelming political support, which they leveraged for dismantling the remaining, already battered checks and balances. By contrast, presidents who did not benefit from such a huge windfall or who governed in countries not suffering from high institutional instability did not manage to still their power hunger and asphyxiate democracy. Instead, some of these leftwing populists suffered irregular evictions from office, whereas others managed to serve out their terms, but failed to perpetuate themselves in power and strangle democracy Class and race in Latin America’s left populist politics Judith Teichman Race & Class. 2022 This article challenges the notion that populist rhetoric in Latin America primarily and consistently arose in response to recent social dislocations and involves, from the onset, a Manichean struggle of the good people against an evil enemy. Instead, this work seeks the origins of polarisation, so often associated with populism, deep in history: in colonial conquest, in highly unequal economic, social and political relations in the post-independence period, and in nation-building myths that denied the existence of exclusions involving race/culture. Through an analysis of speeches given by former president of Argentina Juan Perón and former president of Venezuela Hugo Chávez, the author demonstrates a strong early conciliatory strain in populist rhetoric that calls for the respect and inclusion of racially and culturally distinct lower-class populist followers and acceptance of their importance to the nation. Initially, this rhetoric does not exclude the opposition in the populist leader’s concept of the nation. The Manichean aspect of populist rhetoric emerges later, when populist leaders come to believe that their pleas for material and cultural/racial inclusion have been and will always be rejected by anti-populists. In this interpretation, populism is a symptom of long-standing exclusion and latent pre-existing polarisation, not its cause Connections between populism and nationalism: Evidence from Jair Bolsonaro's speeches Paolo Ricci, Gustavo Venturelli Nations and nationalism. 2023 Recent studies have warned about the close relationship between populism and nationalism. This article offers an empirical contribution to the examination of this relationship by analysing the presence of populist and nationalist elements in the official speeches of the outgoing Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro. We make two contributions to this expanding literature. First, we show that the supposed ambiguity between populism and nationalism can be resolved by an approach that clearly separates the two concepts. Second, we find that Bolsonaro is more populist than nationalist. His populism has elements in common with other European populist leaders (attacking political parties and the political class), but he distances himself from them by presenting authoritarian traits. Nativism is completely absent (unlike in Europe), but ‘sovereignism’ (‘us’ vs. ‘other nations or institutions’) and ‘civilisationism’ (‘us’ vs. ‘minorities’) sometimes overlap with populism. We conclude that a tension exists between populism and nationalism that can endanger the ‘good’ relationship between the populist leader and their supporters. This is something that future research on populism should consider De cómo la singularidad de la derecha radical populista en América Latina permite repensar a la derecha radical populista global Juan Carlos Ubilluz Letras (Lima). 2024 Este artículo estudia los procesos y los temas políticos que marcaron el ascenso de la DRP (Derecha Radical Populista) latinoamericana a fin de determinar su singularidad. Desde allí se intenta esbozar una definición de la DRP más universal que la de Cas Mudde, el académico más importante en los estudios de la ultraderecha. Para Mudde, la ideología de la DRP se basa en la tríada nativismo, autoritarismo y populismo. La derecha radical populista latinoamericana es autoritaria y populista, pero se orienta menos hacia el nativismo que hacia la lucha contra la “ideología de género”. Por eso el autor propone alterar la tríada de Mudde de la siguiente manera: conservadurismo sociopolítico, autoritarismo y populismo. Por otra parte, según Mudde, la DRP se opone discursivamente al neoliberalismo, pero la DRP latinoamericana adhiere la defensa del “modelo económico”. Y esta singularidad revela la verdad oculta de la DRP en Occidente: a saber, que lejos de constituir una salida del neoliberalismo, la DRP lo sostiene al desplazar el descontento popular con el sistema económico hacia el odio al Otro inmigrante, religioso o sexual. Por ello se propone incluir al neoliberalismo en la ideología de la DRP para finalmente arribar a la tétrada: neoliberalismo, conservadurismo social, populismo y autoritarismo Deceitful autocratization: Subverting democracy through electoral reform in Mexico Alejandro Monsiváis‐Carrillo Latin American policy. 2024 Antipluralist incumbents often resort to opaque and deceptive strategies to subvert democracy. One such strategy involves devising formal institutions that pretend to promote and deepen democracy while enforcing authoritarian rule instead. This study labels such a strategy as “deceitful autocratization” and argues that a case that illustrates how antipluralist presidents promote it is the electoral reform launched by Andrés Manuel López Obrador in Mexico. The analysis shows that López Obrador is a populist leader who also features prominent illiberal and antipluralist attributes. The article examines the political process that led to the legal modifications he introduced, which aimed at an overhaul of the country’s system of electoral governance, one of the crucial foundations of Mexican democracy. The reform was supposed to democratize the regime, eliminate electoral fraud, and reduce the cost of elections. In fact, it represented a step forward in establishing competitive authoritarianism Del constitucionalismo global a los nuevos autoritarismos. Desafíos para el derecho comparado Tania Groppi Revista Derecho del estado. 2024 El artículo cuestiona el papel del derecho comparado en la época actual, caracterizada por un retroceso de las democracias a favor de regímenes híbridos o autoritarios. De hecho, si bien las regresiones democráticas van acompañadas de un rechazo del constitucionalismo global, en nombre de las especificidades nacionales, esto no se traduce en una irrelevancia del derecho comparado. A menudo, los nuevos regímenes autoritarios justifican sus elecciones sobre la base de ejemplos extranjeros descontextualizados y manipulados, según una técnica que ha sido definida como “abusive constitutional borrowing”. Todo esto implica nuevos desafíos para los estudiosos del derecho comparado, quienes se encuentran llamados a cumplir una “función defensiva”, para desenmascarar el constitucionalismo abusivo y monitorear los cambios institucionales. Esta nueva tarea tiene un impacto en la selección de temas de investigación (que deben centrarse sobre todo en las instituciones y los derechos atacados por las nuevas fuerzas iliberales); sobre la metodología de la investigación (que exige un diálogo con otras ciencias sociales que tiende a ir más allá de las normas jurídicas para evaluar su impacto y eficacia); sobre la difusión de los resultados de la investigación (esta debe dirigirse cada vez más a la opinión pública a través de los medios de comunicación y la divulgación académica) Democracia, populismo e autoritarismo na América Latina, 2012-2022: uma reavaliação Carlos Federico Domínguez Avila Revista Tempo e Argumento. 2024 O artigo examina a evolução recente do regime político democrático na região da América Latina e do Caribe. Em termos teóricos, o texto está vinculado aos estudos sobre a qualidade da democracia, especialmente sob as visões propostas por Leonardo Morlino. Metodologicamente, o trabalho adota o estilo do ensaio de interpretação, bem como a análise documental. As inferências descritivas e interpretativas são baseadas em bases de dados e relatórios publicados por centros de pesquisa reconhecidos. Promover a democracia, conter o populismo e resistir ao autoritarismo são os principais desafios políticos e sociais do continente, especialmente no contexto global de uma onda de autocratização que prevalece desde o início do século XXI Democracy and Crime in Latin America: What Do We Know about the Relationship from an Attitudinal Perspective? Geélison Ferreira Da Silva [y otros] Comparative Sociology. 2024 Do firm stances against crime, up to a level at which they disregard Human Rights, overflow the sphere of crime control and associate with a preference against democracy? This study determines whether victimization of crime encourages support for the death penalty, the desire to own a firearm, and broader authoritarian political attitudes. The hypothesis is tested in Latin America using the LAPOP (2018/2019) database in 17 countries. Three sets of indicators are observed in the logistic models: a) dependent variables (desire to own a firearm, support for the death penalty, perception of democracy as the best form of government, support for a coup in the case of high crime, satisfaction with democracy, and trust in institutions); b) independent variables (victimization by crime); and c) control variables (waiting time for police response, and sociodemographic factors). Although no significant effects were found on democracy as the best form of government, victimization increases the likelihood of wanting a firearm, favoring the death penalty, and supporting coups, while it reduces the satisfaction with democracy and trust in institutions. Therefore, the results confirm that crime not only favors public support for harsh measures to control it but also weakens democracy and its institutions. Democratic Innovations in the Hands of Strong Presidents: Latin American Democracies in Peril Pablo Hernandez Borges, Henry Moncrieff 2025 Latin America is a region that served to experiment with participatory governance through democratic innovations. During the pink tide, Presidents changed the constitutions and open spaces to increase voice and representation further. The LATINNO dataset collects over 3700 democratic innovations throughout 18 Latin American countries from 1990 to 2021. According to Pogrebinschi (2013), these innovations grouped into five categories (deliberation, director voting, e-participation, and citizen representation) should increase a particular end of democratic dimensions such as accountability, responsiveness, political inclusion, social equality, and the rule of law. However, the outcomes of democratic quality in the Latin American region have been mixed, even after implementing these innovations in citizen participation. In this study, a reassessment of the effect of these democratic innovations shows that they not only increase democracy but can also have the opposite effect of diminishing it. A panel analysis suggests that leaders might use these innovations to increase their power further and diminish constraints on them, which goes against the normative expectation of these participatory mechanisms. These results show that these innovations will only be authoritarian in the hands of aspiring or consolidated autocrats. anticipate that by using participatory innovations, autocrats controlling the implementation process can dismantle democracy and provide an opposite intended outcome. Desarticulando los componentes discursivos populista y popular en la política latinoamericana del siglo XXI Sebastián Moreno Barreneche Signa: Revista de la Asociación Española de Semiótica. 2025 Desde hace décadas, el concepto de populismo ha sido uno de sumo interés para la ciencia política, especialmente en América Latina. En 2016, comenzó a ser utilizado extensivamente por medios de comunicación, políticos y la ciudadanía en general en otras latitudes para referir a un modo particular de hace política asociado a figuras como Donald Trump, Marine Le Pen, Pablo Iglesias y Matteo Salvini. Este modo de hacer política, presente en Europa y Estados Unidos, tuvo también un nuevo pico en Latinoamérica, donde actores políticos tanto de izquierda como de derecha comenzaron a ser llamados populistas. Este artículo problematiza dicha denominación y propone una distinción conceptual entre los componentes populista y popular de la discursividad política. Para ello, presenta un enfoque semiótico del populismo, consistente en concebirlo como una práctica discursiva apoyada en el uso de una estructura narrativa particular. Esta definición permite desarticular lo populista de lo popular Discurso populista y “nueva derecha”: el Partido Republicano chileno Juan Antonio González de Requena Farré, Claudio Riveras Ferrada Colombia internacional. 2024 En este estudio pretendemos evaluar la pertinencia de la categoría de populismo al caracterizar a un partido de la “nueva derecha” como el Partido Republicano de Chile. Metodología: se realizó un análisis de discurso de un corpus de textos representativos del ideario de los republicanos, considerando cuatro dimensiones analíticas: los esquemas de descripción ideológica, los léxicos de identificación colectiva, los enunciados populistas y el estilo discursivo populista como se concreta en el ethos retórico del enunciador. Conclusiones: pese a que se ha tipificado al Partido Republicano como de derecha radical populista, ni los esquemas ideológicos, ni el vocabulario, ni los enunciados ni el estilo discursivo evidencian un marcado populismo. Podría concluirse que otros marcos ideológicos caracterizan mejor el discurso de este partido: concretamente, motivos conservadores, autoritarios, neoliberales y neopatrióticos, enmarcados con el significante de cierto republicanismo. Originalidad: la investigación permite una interpretación divergente de los partidos de la nueva derecha, habitualmente caracterizados como de derecha radical populista The effects of global populism: assessing the populist impact on international affairs Daniel F. Wajner, Sandra Destradi, Michael Zürn International affairs. 2024 With the global rise to power of populist leaders over the past decade, research on populism, including its international implications, has flourished. However, we still lack a nuanced understanding of the international effects of this new populist wave. The special section that this article introduces seeks to bridge this gap by systematically examining three types of international effects of populism. One group of contributions addresses the impact of populism on the processes of foreign policy-making in countries governed by populists (politics). Another group focuses on effects in terms of foreign policy agenda and its substantive outcomes (policies). A third group of contributions studies the impact of populism on states’ stances towards international institutions (international polity). This introduction proposes a theoretical framework that takes into account the existent diversity among populist governments, specifically addressing how the more or less authoritarian character of populism explains variations in international outcomes across politics, policies and polities. A better understanding of these varied characters and effects can contribute new insights to lively debates about the potential challenges posed by populism and populists in the contemporary international order, and the prospects for mitigation El enjambre de la ultraderecha latinoamericana
Juan Carlos Ubilluz, Oswaldo Bolo-Varela
Letras (Lima) 2024
Este texto presenta los principales ejes trabajados en el dossier “La ultraderecha latinoamericana hoy”: la política de la ultraderecha a escala regional; la historia, las narrativas, las estrategias y las condiciones de producción de la batalla cultural; las luchas de la denominada “ideología de género”; y las relaciones de la ultraderecha con una tradición autoritaria, negacionista, no-democrática. Los artículos aquí presentados estudian las múltiples singularidades de la ultraderecha, pero también examinan cómo estas no se organizan jerárquicamente en torno a un partido, sino que tiene una estructura descentrada y en red que Hardt y Negri (2004, 2017) identificaron con los movimientos democráticos y progresistas que irrumpieron a principios del siglo XXI. Es decir, la ultraderecha opera como una multitud o un enjambre que paradójicamente avanza hacia un populismo autoritario y conservador. Por otra parte, esta introducción también se interroga sobre la matriz histórica de la que parte la ultraderecha latinoamericana en su búsqueda por restablecer o recrear un orden social conservador. A diferencia de la europea, que según algunos autores tiene como referente al fascismo clásico, la actual ultraderecha latinoamericana se remite a los regímenes militares que se instauraron entre las décadas de 1960 y 1980. Es desde este lugar que la ultraderecha se interesa por enfrentar la disidencia con “mano dura” para imponer un modelo de desarrollo basado en el neoliberalismo económico y el conservadurismo social. Embracing or Rebuffing “the International”? Populist Foreign Policy and the Fourth Wave of Populism in Latin America Daniel F Wajner, Leslie Wehner Global Studies Quarterly. 2023 Under what conditions do populists embrace or reject “the international”? Some scholars of populism argue that populist leaders tend to neglect political (inter-)action in the international arena due to their stated preference for isolationist, nationalistic, and protectionist stances. Meanwhile, others claim that through their promotion of performative encounters and transnational solidarities between “People(s),” populists are actually more likely to engage with actors, ideas, styles, and agendas coming from abroad. This article explores this apparent contradiction, hypothesizing that three main elements influence the “populist mindset” to narrate the external world and thus adopt or rather resist new contingencies originating internationally: legitimacy, support, and opportunity. To examine the combination of these behavioral patterns, we compare two populist presidents who are paradigmatic of a fourth wave of populism in Latin America: Brazil’s Jair Messias Bolsonaro and Mexico’s Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO). A comparative analysis of Bolsonaro’s and AMLO’s discursive responses to numerous foreign policy issues reveals how these three mechanisms condition their engagement or apathy toward external developments in bilateral frameworks of cooperation, regional integration schemes, multilateral organizations, and global governance institutions. The findings of this study can contribute to a greater understanding of populist foreign policies and their outcomes, with a special emphasis on Latin America and the Global South, and more generally to the emerging research on populism in international relations Erosión democrática en México: repertorio e innovaciones autoritarias (2018-2024) Johan Gordillo-García Convergencia Revista de Ciencias Sociales. 2025 Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) ganó la elección presidencial en México en 2018 y a pesar de sus varias promesas dirigidas a mejorar la calidad de la democracia, múltiples trabajos han encontrado que en su gobierno se aceleró la erosión democrática. Frente a estas circunstancias, la pregunta de este trabajo es: ¿cómo las prácticas y los discursos de AMLO fomentaron un proceso de erosión democrática? Para responder, realizo una revisión de la literatura sobre este tema y la sistematizo con base en los conceptos de “innovaciones autoritarias” y “repertorio autoritario”. Los hallazgos destacan ocho innovaciones en el repertorio autoritario de AMLO. Además de presentar un panorama de la literatura sobre la erosión democrática en México, el texto respalda la utilidad de conceptos recientemente propuestos y ayuda a identificar las prácticas y los discursos que los líderes políticos electos democráticamente utilizan para dañar la calidad de la democracia Exploring the Topography of the Authoritarian: Populism, Illiberalism, and Authoritarianism Günter Frankenberg Journal of illiberalism studies. 2022 “Democratic regression,” the “retreat of western liberalism,” the “return” or “renaissance” of authoritarianism or the “third wave of autocratization” − these are some the many labels for diverse phenomena − or problems of authority − that plague societies in the Global North and South. Commonly, such problems of authority are specified as pathological practices of corruption or institutional defects, deviant forms of governance or pathological symptoms of representation and participation. Their semantic specification and interpretive framework are delivered by three camps − with contested, porous borders and considerable intersections and agreements − under the signifier illiberalism, populism or authoritarianism. All of them claim, each camp speaking from its peculiar vantage point, the authority to interpret the phenomena mentioned above. In this article the “properties” − advantages and failures − of the three frameworks are discussed and brought into a conversation with one another Las iglesias y el estallido social peruano (2022-2023): Una reflexión en tiempos de fragmentación y polarización Veronique Lecaros, David Romero Mazzini Revista cultura y religión. 2024 Este artículo se propone discutir el involucramiento de las iglesias cristianas en el estallido social peruano (final de 2022 hasta 2023). Para compensar la pérdida de credibilidad del campo político fragmentado y polarizado, los políticos buscan legitimidad en lo religioso. En el campo religioso católico y evangélico también impera, pero por otros motivos, la fragmentación y la polarización, lo cual debilita la capacidad de acción. Sin embargo, las corrientes de (extrema) derecha logran ocupar un lugar preeminente en ambos campos por su cohesión, su populismo, su alianza entre ciertos políticos y religiosos, sus conexiones transnacionales y su agenda moral y autoritaria. Argüimos que los católicos de esta corriente se mimetizan en su actuar político con los evangélicos. Abordamos el estudio de la interacción entre los campos político y religioso a partir de las noticias de los eventos relatados en la prensa escrita y las publicaciones en las páginas oficiales de las entidades religiosas Illiberalism, Left-Wing Populism, and Popular Sovereignty in Latin America Julio Carrión The Oxford Handbook of Illiberalism. 2023 This chapter discusses the record of left-wing populism in power in relation to the exercise of popular sovereignty. Many left- and right-wing populist leaders claim to want to enhance the “people’s power” and reduce the influence of corrupt elites or politicians. Because populism has a strong illiberal orientation, these leaders seek to monopolize political representation and demonize those who refuse to support them. When unconstrained by existing liberal institutions, their illiberalism leads populist leaders to undermine the popular sovereignty they claim to not only defend but deepen. This manifests in unfair and rigged elections. Their illiberal anti-pluralism means that populist chief executives cannot accept the legitimacy of opposition, especially when it comes from civil society, because it threatens their contention that they are the sole embodiment of “the people.” Without liberal constraints, the illiberalism of populism weakens, not enhances, popular sovereignty. The chapter illustrates these points using evidence from Latin America The Implications of Rising Multipolarity for Authoritarian Populist Governance, Multilateralism, and the Nature of New Globalization Barrie Axford Populism & Politics. 2024 What is it about the current phase of globalization that feeds on and is fed by the populist zeitgeist? In what follows I will tie the discussion of populism to the changing character of globalization, sometimes called the “new” globalization, though that label does less than justice to the overlapping nature of historical globalizations. The “new” globalization is both a description of the de-centered and multi-polar constitution of globality today and a reflex to safeguard against the roils of an ever more connected and turbulent world. It is a reminder that globalization has always been a multidimensional and contradictory process, moving to no single constitutive logic, and historically variable. The new globalization is the context for the current populist surge and, in turn, that surge is testimony to its emergence as a serious political force, perhaps as an embedded global script. In this same context the much-trumpeted failures of multilateralism are set against a burgeoning multipolarity which is itself an expression of the changing face of political modernity The institutional impact of left-leaning populism in Latin America Nicolas Cachanosky [y otros] European Journal of Political Economy. 2025 We study the institutional impact 21st-century left-leaning populist regimes have in Latin America. Looking at the iconic left-leaning populist regimes in Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, we find that these types of populist regimes impose a significant deterioration on the liberal-democracy institutional quality of their countries. The institutional cost is significant and long-lasting, and our synthetic counterfactual suggests that liberal democratic institutions would have improved if not for these populist regimes Is Mexico at the Gates of Authoritarianism?
Azul A. Aguiar Aguilar, Rodrigo Castro Cornejo, Alejandro Monsiváis-Carrillo
Journal of democracy. 2025
Mexico might be on the verge of becoming one of the latest additions to the list of competitive authoritarian regimes. By the end of the term of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), his party had achieved full control of the executive branch, both chambers of Congress, and most subnational states. His government also succeeded in overhauling the judiciary and strengthening the military by approving controversial constitutional reforms aimed at executive aggrandizement and weakening checks and balances. How did AMLO manage to swiftly subvert Mexican democracy by the end of his term? This essay argues that his government resorted to a mix of strategies. In particular, AMLO’s populist rhetoric played a crucial role in undermining democratic institutions while also mobilizing support for the subversion of democracy among the electorate Latin American Populist Authoritarian Inclusion Carlos De La Torre Comparative Political Theory. 2021 This article discusses how scholars have analyzed left populist governments in Latin America that include the previously excluded on the condition of their loyalty to the leader. It shows how different normative understandings of democracy have allowed the classification of populism as democratizing, a risk to democracy that could lead to competitive authoritarianism, or a sui generis combination of inclusion and authoritarianism. The paper distinguishes inclusion from democratization, and populists seeking power, from populists in governments, and populist regimes. It argues that the notion of polarized populist democracies captures better their autocratic and inclusionary practices. Populists maintain a commitment to elections hence selectively preserving rights to pluralism, free expression, and association. At the same time, they are authoritarian because populist leaders assume that they embody the people and consider that a section of the population represents the people as a whole, and that their mission is to redeem the people Left populism and institutions: lessons from Ecuador on Laclau's antinomies Samuele Mazzolini Journal of Political Ideologies. 2024 Populism and institutions have been characterized as antithetical to each other by Ernesto Laclau. Yet the Latin American pink tide has offered many instances of left populism in power, with Rafael Correa’s Ecuador representing a prime example of the enmeshment between populist rhetoric and technocratic construction. Some accounts have emerged to make room for the latter, while ultimately failing to capture much of the dynamics at play. One of the chief questions is that the simple enlargement of the State cannot be taken as a trustworthy indicator of the stability and regularity of the new institutions. In order to secure their sustainability, these need to be propped up by accountable governance and a broader cultural transformation. By neglecting such aspects, left populism in Ecuador has left behind a mixed record in terms of institutional legacy. From a normative viewpoint, populism is thus conceived as a transitional device which can usher in a new institutionality, but, if some of its ‘vices’ are excessively protracted, it may be indicative of its failure to instil a new hegemony and its institutional achievements may be subject to a swift dismantling Legal aspects of the authoritarian regime in Latin America Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Skrypniuk [y otros] Cuestiones Políticas. 2023 The purpose of the article was to study the legal aspects of the authoritarian regime in some Latin American countries. The research methodology included the use of general and special scientic methods of knowledge, such as: dialectic, historical-legal, formal-logical, hermeneutics, generalization and comparison. It should be pointed out that the results of the research identied four Latin American countries with authoritarian regimes (El Salvador, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela). The legal aspects of the authoritarian regime of each selected country were considered. In addition, dierent areas of analysis were covered and characterized in the course of the work: (government, protection of human rights, freedom of expression, legislation and prisoners’ rights). It was concluded that each of these countries has common legal aspects of authoritarianism, including the concentration of power in the hands of the president or government, control of the judiciary and legislature, within the framework of dynamics of corruption and systematic violations of human rights Lideranças populistas, firehosing e a dinâmica algorítmica: um estudo dos posicionamentos de Jair Bolsonaro Aryovaldo De Castro Azevedo, Ramon Fernandes Lourenço Más poder local. 2023 A ascensão de governos de direita ao redor do globo tem revelado estratégias comuns que são replicadas em diversos países. Para investigar este fenômeno, o artigo apresenta casos de Jair Bolsonaro a fim de identificar características comuns ao perfil de lideranças populistas autocráticas como a espetacularização da política por meio de declarações polêmicas e polarizadoras e a ampla disseminação de desinformação. Para tanto optou-se por analisar as declarações disseminadas via Twitter e correlacioná-las ao contexto político brasileiro a fim de entender se tais ações constituiriam um reforço do posicionamento deste ator ou simplesmente uma formar de desviar o foco de problemas reais que poderiam interferir em seus interesses políticos. Como conclusão é possível constatar forte vinculação com o conceito de populismo autoritário, principalmente vinculado às narrativas nacionalistas e belicosas, além da implementação de forte movimento de ataques à imprensa e ampla utilização de menções religiosas cristãs. A utilização sistemática destes elementos demonstra um intenso conhecimento da dinâmica algorítmica que rege as conversações nas mídias sociais, com o uso de apelos emocionais que fomentam sentimentos de ódio e de medo em favor do engajamento, estratégia na qual tanto apoiadores quanto adversários auxiliam no processo de difusão e exposição de mensagens, o que garante hiperexposição aos perfis e aos temas levantados pelo presidente e seus apoiadores. Mapping the populist mind: A network approach to integrate sociological and psychological models of the populist radical right Dániel Komáromy, Matthijs Rooduijn, Gijs Schumacher Frontiers in political science. 2024 Who supports the populist radical right (PRR)? And under what circumstances? We theorize that social status-related envy (SSRE) is the construct that integrates personality- and grievance-based theories of PRR support. To assess our theory, we estimate psychological network models on German survey data to map the complex relationships between PRR support, Big Five personality traits, facets of narcissism, political attitudes, and multiple constructs measuring objective and subjective social status. Our findings confirm previous studies detecting two routes to PRR support: a disagreeable and an authoritarian one. The Bifurcated Model of Status-Deprived Narcissistic Right-Wing Populism claims that SSRE is the distant predictor of PRR support and the two constructs are connected by two pathways. The middle-class route is characterized by disagreeable narcissism (Rivalry) and nativism, while the lower-class route by Neuroticism (potentially Vulnerable Narcissism) and authoritarian right-wing populism. Moreover, we find preliminary support for our expectation that PRR voting is explained by the activation of narcissistic traits by SSRE Más allá de la izquierda y la derecha: patrones de actitudes populistas en Latinoamérica Hernán Chaparro, Liliana Gómez, Juan Federico Pino Revista de Ciencia Política. 2024 En este artículo se analizan tres países latinoamericanos con extendidas actitudes populistas. Se propone que en los mismos existen diferentes patrones de actitudes populistas si se estudia el fenómeno desde un enfoque multidimensional, relacionando las actitudes populistas con otras variables, más allá del eje izquierda-derecha. Se aplicaron 3,800 encuestas identificando cuatro patrones de actitudes populistas: Anti Populista Autoritario de Centro derecha, Populista Autoritario Conservador Intervencionista de Centro, Derechista Promercado Democrático y Populista de Izquierda, Liberal, Demócrata, Intervencionista The Mix of Latin American Populist Constitutionalism Juan F. González Bertomeu, Maria Paula Saffon The Law & Ethics of Human Rights. 2022 In this article, we study Latin American populist constitutions and their uses, seeking to analytically understand whether populist constitutionalism is, indeed, a thing. We posit that Latin American populist constitutionalism is a particular form of mixed constitutionalism in three senses: first, as a specific combination of substantive traits that includes both empowering and (some) constraining devices; second, as a peculiar politics of constitutional change that incorporates popular mobilization against pre-existing institutions as a key trait; and third, as a particular practice of constitutional enforcement that involves weak and selective implementation, often through institutional capture. By considering not only the texts of constitutions but also the ways in which they are changed and implemented, we hope to complement legal perspectives of mixed constitutions with a sociopolitical analysis of practices and contexts. By capturing the distinctive contribution of Latin American populism to the discussion of mixed constitutions, we seek to challenge both legal conceptions of constitutionalism that reduce it to negative or constraining features, and political conceptions of populism that simply equate it to authoritarian rule Neoliberal and Right-Wing Populism in Latin America Kurt Weyland Democracy's Resilience to Populism's Threat: Countering Global Alarmism. 2024 This chapter documents the restrictive conditions under which rightwing, neoliberal populism managed to destroy democracy in Latin America. Only Alberto Fujimori in Peru (1990–2000) and Nayib Bukele in El Salvador (2019-present) have accomplished this feat because they benefited from institutional weaknesses of their countries’ presidential systems and, at the same time, managed to resolve two acute, severe crises, in the economy as well as in public security; this “miraculous” success earned them overwhelming political support, which they leveraged for dismantling the remaining checks and balances. Whereas Fujimori ended hyperinflation and defeated a countrywide guerrilla insurgency, presidents who resolved only one such crisis; who failed to overcome such a challenge; or who did not face a crisis at all, did not manage to still their power hunger and asphyxiate democracy. And whereas Bukele successfully contained the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic and greatly lowered rampant gang violence, Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro (2019–2022), who did not face such challenges, was unable to boost his mass support and therefore lost his reelection bid Neopentecostalismo no Brasil e a convergência com a ultradireita no populismo reacionário de Jair Bolsonaro Fábio Nobre, André Mendes Pini, Maria Eduarda Angeiras de Menezes Revista de iniciação científica em relações internacionais. 2023 Este artigo explora a influência do neopentecostalismo no âmbito político brasileiro, focando nos pontos de contato estabelecidos entre o populismo reacionário de Jair Bolsonaro e o conservadorismo religioso. O artigo argumenta que o neopentecostalismo forneceu uma base teológica e ideológica para a construção do populismo reacionário de Bolsonaro, a partir da legitimação de uma concepção radical de cidadania baseada na religiosidade. O artigo demonstra que o neopentecostalismo se tornou uma força influente na política brasileira, ajudando a conectar o governo Bolsonaro à ultradireita, o que levanta questões importantes sobre o papel da religião na política e os desafios de equilibrar a liberdade religiosa e os princípios seculares da democracia em um governo de caráter populista, autoritário e reacionário. Palavras-chave: Bolsonaro, Neopentecostalismo, Ultradireita, Populismo ‘No es la democracia que míster superman quiere imponernos desde Washington’: An analysis of populist attitudes on democracy from Latin American legislators Patricia Marenghi, Mercedes García Montero Legislative Studies Quarterly. 2024 In studies on Populism, extensive discussion has mounted around whether the phenomenon represents a threat to democracy or a corrective force. In line with this concern, we examine whether the populist attitudes held by legislators are related to their opinions on the functioning of and satisfaction with three central aspects of governance: (I) democracy itself; (II) its institutions; and (III) the separation of powers. Using the ideational approach and survey information collected for the PELA-USAL database, we first measure the populist attitudes of legislators in 12 Latin American countries. We then test through multivariate analysis two theoretical arguments: (1) that populism is relatively hostile to democracy and its institutions; and (2) that ideological extremism and the situation of the legislator in the government/opposition dynamic serve as moderators (enhancers) of that hostility. The results suggest that the populist attitudes of these legislators are indeed significantly connected to lower levels of trust and satisfaction with democracy and its institutions and that populism in combination with ideological extremism sharpens that critical perspective, while a legislator’s affiliation with the ruling party or coalition in government tends to temper it. El papel de los significantes y los afectos en la teoría populista Luciana Cadahia Revista de economía institucional. 2023 Este artículo es una reflexión acerca del populismo, siguiendo el derrotero marcado por Ernesto Laclau. En la visión del autor argentino, del populismo se puede tener una visión positiva, no la de la ciencia política eurocéntrica que descalifica al populismo latinoamericano asimilándolo a lo antidemocrático, dictatorial, al autoritarismo y a la democracia plebiscitaria, dispuesta a pasar por encima de las instituciones. Se propone una teoría renovada del populismo, que hace referencia a las luchas populares por la igualdad y los derechos. El rechazo del populismo es, entonces, rechazo del pueblo. Se trata de vivir la República como iguales, en libertad. En esta visión, el populismo no tiene nada que ver con los movimientos en auge como los de Trump, Bolsonaro, Erdogan o Vox. En el texto se hace especial énfasis en el tema de los afectos, dimensión esencial del ámbito político Populism and Its Authoritarian Tendencies: The Politics of Division in Bolivia Ben M. McKay, Gonzalo Colque Latin American Perspectives. 2021 Evo Morales rose to power on the shoulders of Bolivia’s most powerful social movements, ostracizing the neoliberal elite with a progressive-left populist discourse that swept through Latin America. After nearly 14 years in power, Morales’s caudillo-style leadership shifted toward authoritarianism and a politics of division that ultimately led to his ouster as president. While many have been quick to adopt the narrative of a coup d’état, this perspective plays directly into the oversimplified binary politics used by the Morales administration, overlooking the complexity and fluidity of social forces and the changing state-society dynamics over time. Evo Morales suffered a crisis of legitimacy that was years in the making. His authoritarian tendencies, alliances with classes of capital, and reliance on the extractive economy ultimately led to his downfall as he lost support from his social bases and was unwilling to give up state power. The electoral scandal in October 2019 and the subsequent departure of Evo Morales into political exile were only the tip of the iceberg Populism and Political Trust: Evidence from Latin America Leonardo Baccini, John Hicks, Paula Rettl 2025 We investigate the effect of populism in countries experiencing severe economic inequality. We posit that left populist parties use a mix of strong redistribution policies, which tackle the roots of political dissatisfaction, and anti-elite rhetoric, which increases credibility in maintaining the electoral pledges, to build electoral support. In turn, this policy and rhetoric innovation leads to an increase in trust in institutions among left populist voters, especially when their party is in power. We test our argument in Latin America, using a repeated cross-section individual-level dataset (1995-2020) and an original survey experiment. We find strong evidence that left populist parties elevate political trust among their voters and that this positive effect is driven by pledges to implement generous redistributive policies. Trust does not increase among voters of other party’s families, including right populist parties. We also find that the use of populist rhetoric increases voters’ confidence in the actual implementation of social spending and poverty reduction programs when left populist parties are the incumbent Populism and Socio-Political Transformation in Latin America Ronaldo Munck Revista de Estudios Globales. Análisis Histórico y Cambio Social. 2024 Through the concept of «populism» Ronaldo Munck offers a series of approaches to the various methodological and theoretical perspectives that have studied it for decades. The article highlights both the complexity of this concept and its ambiguity Populism and state capture: Evidence from Latin America Julio F. Carrión, James G. Korman European review of Latin American and Caribbean studies. 2023 This article argues that populist governments, in comparison to non-populist ones, diminish the effectiveness of the rule of law in preventing state capture by economic elites. (Unconstrained) populism in power that reduces existing levels of the rule of law generates more state capture than (contained) populism which has no negative effects on the rule of law. The moderating effect we theorize is that the strength of the rule of law on state capture will show decreased effects at controlling state capture when a country is a populist relative to a non-populist. Populist leaders may seek to rid the old corruption networks, but once they aggrandise their power and weaken the rule of law, they have incentives to establish corrupt linkages with opportunistic economic elites willing to work with them, increasing state capture as a result. To test this theory, the paper employs a random effects model with 6 different specifications across 18 different Latin American countries, throughout the time period 1996-2017 Populism and the political system: A critical systems theory approach to the study of populism Kolja Möller Philosophy & social criticism. 2024 This article outlines a critical systems theory approach to the study of populism by arguing that populism is an avenue of contestation which assumes a distinct role and function in the existing constitution of the political system. Most notably, it is characterised by the re-entry of a popular sovereignty dimension within regular political procedures. By taking up a critical systems theory perspective, it becomes possible to more precisely distinguish populism from other forms of politics, such as oppositional politics, social movement politics or procedural constitutional politics. Further, populism’s oscillation between democratic and authoritarian dynamics can be elucidated as an inversion which operates from within its political form. Finally, it is argued that the critical systems theory approach provides a more nuanced understanding of populism’s inherent problems and, consequently, moves beyond a blunt defence or rejection of populism as such Populism, Illiberalism, and Popular Sovereignty in Latin America Julio F. Carrión Entrada de blog. 2023 There is a contested relationship between populism and democracy. Defenders of populism argue that populism enhances the democratic dimension of liberal democracy (popular sovereignty), even if its liberal component (checks and balances) may suffer as a result. The present paper rejects this claim on two counts: conceptual and empirical. The paper shows that the liberal and democratic dimensions of democracy are deeply interwoven in practice. Effective checks and balances (a central component of the liberal dimension) are necessary for the full exercise of popular sovereignty (the preeminent component of the democratic dimension). This paper shows that populism in power moderates the relationship between checks and balances (measured as horizontal accountability) and popular sovereignty (measured as free and fair elections). Therefore, the paper concludes that when checks and balances are eroded by populist chief executives, so too is the exercise of popular sovereignty. Empirically and conceptually, the liberal dimension of liberal democracy cannot be diminished significantly to enhance the democratic component, as theorists of populism claim, because the weakening of the first leads to the erosion of the second. The modeling strategy is based on a fixed-effect panel design of 19 Latin American countries in the period 1979-2021 Populism in Latin America: development, democracy and social transformation Ronaldo Munck Populism: Latin American Perspectives. 2023 In both popular and academic parlance, the term “populism” has taken on a more or less uniformly negative connotation. It implies being an enemy of democracy, anti-immigrant and, most obviously, irrationally under the sway of a charismatic leader. Yet in Latin America, populism has been an integral element of the development and democratization process and plays an important role in the contemporary process of social transformation under the left-of-centre governments that have emerged since the turn of the century. Thus, we need to deconstruct the term “populism” and explore its diverse historical manifestations, to rethink its meaning and its prospects moving forward.This introduction to a volume consisting of detailed case studies of Latin American populism, or populism in Latin America, advances in several moments. First, I will approach the burgeoning international debate on rethinking populism to distil some broad lines of investigation, that might serve to guide our research. I distinguish between a structural/ocioeconomic frame for understanding populism, another where the focus is on populism as political strategy/style and, finally, one where populism is seen within an ideational or discursive frame. I also introduce the complex, and sometimes contradictory, relationship between populism and development, democracy and social transformation. A second section introduces several Latin American perspectives on populism in a broad conceptual sense. It examines the structural functionalist approach of the 1950s, the dependent development “compromise state” interpretation of the 1970s and, finally, the discourse approach and its critiques that dominated in the 1990s. We then move from the abstract to the concrete, with two stylized accounts of the classical populism of the 1930– 70 period and the contemporary populism that has emerged in the 1990s and, particularly, in the context of the progressive governments post-2000. This account is set in a broadly political economy frame, with a focus on the changing patterns of capital accumulation, the role of the state and the waves of popular mobilization that have characterized Latin America since 1930 Populismo y neoliberalismo como izquierda y derecha ideológicas en el siglo XXI Grecia Cordero García Revista mexicana de sociología. 2023 En este artículo se propone una revisión de los usos peyorativo y apologético del populismo, con el fin de explicar que no existe un “populismo de derecha” y que, más bien, podemos describir esta época como una radicalización de las ideologías antipolíticas. Se sostiene que, así como en un determinado momento las revoluciones marxista y fascista adquirieron el protagonismo ideológico, hoy podemos hablar de populismo y neoliberalismo como izquierda y derecha ideológicas en pleno siglo xxi, y en el contexto específico de la globalización Populismo-autoritário de direita?: Antielitismo, pluralismo e voto em eleições presidenciais em democracias americanas Valeria Cabreira Cabrera, Fabíola Brigante Del Porto Revista debates (Porto Alegre) 2023 A chegada ao poder de governantes com características populistas-autoritárias somente é possível a partir do apoio de eleitores identificados com seus discursos e práticas. Por isso, neste artigo averiguamos o impacto de atitudes em relação a elites políticas, minorias e imigrantes sobre a escolha eleitoral para presidente no Brasil (2018), no Chile (2017), na Costa Rica (2018), no Uruguai (2019) e nos Estados Unidos (2016). Utilizamos dados pós-eleitorais de opinião pública do módulo 5 do Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES). Operacionalizamos as variáveis a partir da construção de escalas de antielitismo e de pluralismo e adotamos a percepção da corrupção como parte do fenômeno de rejeição às elites políticas. Encontramos que o (anti)pluralismo foi um melhor preditor do voto nessas eleições em relação ao antielitismo e à corrupção, sugerindo que a disputa entre valores mais e menos liberais-progressistas esteve no centro do debate político em todos os países estudados Populismo, repertorios autoritarios y subversión de la democracia Alejandro Monsiváis Carrillo Revista mexicana de sociología. 2023 Este artículo introduce el concepto de repertorio autoritario para dar cuenta de la forma en que el populismo amenaza a la democracia. El populismo es la idea de que la política está definida por el antagonismo moral entre el pueblo y las élites. Esta idea contribuye a subvertir la democracia cuando es utilizada por gobiernos encabezados por líderes personalistas que buscan ejercer el poder de forma ilimitada e irrestricta. La retórica populista le permite al ejecutivo desplegar un reportorio de acciones y estrategias que transgreden las normas democráticas y apuntalan la autocratización del régimen Populist Foreign Policy: Mapping the Developing Research Program on Populism in International Relations Daniel F. Wajner, Philip Giurlando International Studies Review. 2024 This article reviews one of the expanding research programs in international relations (IR): the study of populist foreign policy (PFP). Recent years have witnessed a significant proliferation of IR scholars researching the nexus between the global rise of populism and their foreign policies across different countries, regions, and sub-fields. However, scientific progress at such stage of this research program demands an in-depth “mapping” of its different ontological approaches. To this end, we identify and explore five “schools” of PFP that have been consolidated in the last decade, while highlighting their accomplishments in understanding the distinctive populist elements in foreign policy and their possibilities of analyzing local and external conditions under which PFP impacts global politics. We also set the stage for future contributions on the drivers, patterns, and effects of PFP, under the assumption that the populist phenomenon and its transnational dimensions will continue to affect IR prospects for a long time to come Populist international (dis)order? Lessons from world-order visions in Latin American populism Déborah BL Farias, Guilherme Casarões, Daniel F. Wajner International Affairs. 2024 The study of populism’s international links has grown significantly. Yet, there are gaps in conceptualizing potential implications for the international order. Our study contributes to filling this gap by asking: if a ‘populist international order’ (PIO) were to emerge, and populists could envision the world close(r) to their liking, what would this order look like? We pursue answers through a plausibility probe of three deductively-derived normative pillars: 1) cooperation under a PIO is characterized by more fractured, mostly symbolic, small-scale multilateralism; 2) a PIO relies on a narrow, selective embrace of the rule of law, to be respected only when seen as representing the wishes of the ‘real people’; and 3) the commitment to pluralism in ‘international society’ is replaced by an anti-pluralist, monolithic notion of popular sovereignty as the primary behavioural driver. Our analysis is based on contemporary populist leadership from Latin America: Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro, Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro and Mexico’s Andrés Manuel López Obrador. We examine how these populists have addressed our proposed PIO pillars in different ways and shaped their world-order visions in relation to them. The lessons derived from this study can contribute to bridging gaps regarding the effects of global populism in International Relations, including prospects of mitigating the systemic impact of populism on the international order Radical, nativist, authoritarian - or all of these? Assessing recent cases of right-wing populism in Latin America Thomas Kestler Journal of Politics in Latin America. 2022 In the light of a series of right-wing populist successes, some observers concluded that there is a kind of populist contagion going on and that the global wave of radical right populism (RRP) has finally reached Latin America. Yet, a premature categorization based on outward similarities eventually leads to omitting important differences. The aim of this article is a typological assessment of four recent cases of right-wing populism in Latin America – Jair Bolsonaro (Brazil), José António Kast (Chile), Guido Manini Ríos (Uruguay), and Javier Milei (Argentina) – to clarify their correspondence with Cas Mudde’s concept of RRP. The questions to be addressed are the following: Are these four leaders and their parties radically right? Are they right-wing in cultural terms (nativist and authoritarian)? Are they populist? And do they have sufficient features in common to speak of a right-wing populist wave? The Rise of Authoritarian Corporate Populism Alberto Alonso-Fradejas Latin American perspectives. 2024 Authoritarian populism in the early twenty-first century is rooted in a global conjuncture of convergent social and ecological crises, but the ways in which the crises shape authoritarian populist politics and vice versa vary across socio-ecological formations worldwide. An analysis of the politics behind the rise of the flex sugarcane and oil palm complexes in Guatemala since the mid-2000s shows that an authoritarian corporate populist agenda is on the rise. Authoritarian corporate populism is especially keen on manufacturing the consent of working people to the elites-led sustainability and development pathway. This involves political concessions to the underprivileged through public grants and multistakeholder governance as in other populist political regimes but additionally, and distinctively, meaningful concessions to working people and the environment in the sphere of private relations of production. Although these concessions go beyond mere greenwashing, they do not compromise and ultimately enhance the flex cane and palm complexes’ profitability and ability to stay in business and the racialized class hegemony of the elites. Violence, however, remains foundational to this political agenda, even if it is now cloaked in the rule of law. Thus, the concept of authoritarian corporate populism showcases a form of politics in which big business, intimately linked to the state and elites, plays a major role in mainstream sustainability transitions Separating the Chaff from the Wheat: An Exploration of Latin American Political Regimes Leonardo Vivas Peñalver Science, Technology & Public Policy. 2023 This article seeks to characterize the predominant political regimes in Latin America in the 21st century, their relative stability and endurance. It points out that even if the differences between them are less clear than in the 20th century, the main regimes are authoritarian (autocratic), more or less liberal democracies, and populism. It goes on arguing that in contrast to the 20th century, the role and presence of the military current authoritarian regimes is less direct, which may have created confusion. Of the three regimes, authoritarian are the more stable ones. Regarding liberal democracy, despite ups and downs, democracy has remained as the dominant regime in the region. As established in mainstream political science findings about the region, the sources of this continuity do not depend overall on the economy or social trends such as inequality or poverty levels but on political factors (the normative preferences of political actors over democracy, and on their political moderation or radicalism). Also, Latin American democracies have weathered several storms of widespread protests deriving from inner discontent. In order to make sense of the sources of instability one has to look into strictly political factors such as fragmentation, volatility, acute polarization, coalition breakdowns, rejection of critical government policies, and impeachment of presidents. The third regime type is populism, which has had a strong revival during this century, with important differences with its earlier 20th century versions. Several scholarly works point out that present populist regimes’ most prominent features are strictly political, which they characterize as a “moment” or a movement to attain power, which may end up giving birth to more stable regimes like competitive authoritarism. I prefer to delve into populism as a regime in its own right, which has emerged frequently in the region, in some cases deriving into fully authoritarian ones (Venezuela) or moving back to liberal democracy (Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru). The paper ends calling for the need to deepen research regarding both differences between the three regimes and the specific factors affecting stability of democracies in the region. Sovereignty, Discipline, Governmentality, and Pastorate: The Ménage à Quatre of Contemporary Authoritarian and Right-Wing Populist Power Andreas Vasilache Alternatives: global, local, political. 2023 This article deals with the role that different rationalities of power play in current authoritarian and right-wing populist governance. Referring to Foucauldian power theory, I will argue that power rationalities and practices in current authoritarian and right-wing populist rule are diverse and variable. I intend to show that various aspects of the sovereign, disciplinary, governmental, and pastoral types of power as outlined by Foucault play an important role in contemporary authoritarianism and right-wing populism. Thereby, this article pursues a twofold aim. On the one hand, the Foucauldian discussion of power in authoritarian and populist rationalities and practices should contribute to better understand current phenomena of new authoritarianism and right-wing populism. On the other hand, the following considerations should also provide a more detailed theoretical insight into the relation between, and compatibilities as well as incompatibilities of, the different types of power described by Foucault Tres casos de debilitamiento de las democracias en América Latina Marianella Suárez Pizzarello, María Sánchez Trujillo European public & social innovation review. 2024 Este estudio se centra en analizar cómo y por qué se ha producido el debilitamiento democrático en Argentina, El Salvador y Perú. Metodología: El enfoque es cualitativo, obedece a un estudio de caso múltiple con un cueño fenomenológico en el que se aplicó la técnica de análisis de contenido. Se analizaron fuentes secundarias, datos de redes sociales y artículos de prensa, utilizando la herramienta cualitativa “Data Insight” para identificar patrones y tendencias. Resultados: Algunas categorías claves detectadas son las siguientes: criminalización de la protesta, inestabilidad económica, control del discurso y prensa, polarización política, corrupción, seguridad y acoso. Discusión: La crisis económica, el autoritarismo y las políticas ineficaces socavan la democracia. En Argentina, Milei polariza y desestabiliza mediante el uso del capital simbólico. En El Salvador, Bukele centraliza el poder a costa de las libertades civiles. En Perú, la inestabilidad política y la fragmentación impiden la implementación de políticas coherentes. Así, la corrupción, la polarización y el populismo autoritario constituyen factores en el debilitamiento democrático.Conclusiones: La pérdida de confianza en las instituciones, violaciones de derechos humanos y desafíos de gobernabilidad son comunes en los tres países, y constituyen tendencias perniciosas para la democracia. Introduction: This study focuses on analyzing how and why democratic weakening has occurred in Argentina, El Salvador and Peru. Methodology: The approach is qualitative; it follows a multiple case study with a phenomenological design in which the content analysis technique was applied. Secondary sources, data from social networks and press articles were analyzed, using the qualitative tool “Data Insight” to identify patterns and trends. Results: Some key categories detected are the following: criminalization of protest, economic instability, control of speech and press, political polarization, corruption, security and harassment. Discussion: The economic crisis, authoritarianism and ineffective policies undermine democracy. In Argentina, Milei polarizes and destabilizes by symbolic capital. In El Salvador, Bukele centralizes power at the expense of civil liberties. In Peru, political instability and fragmentation prevent the implementation of coherent policies. Thus, corruption, polarization and authoritarian populism constitute factors in the weakening of democracy. Conclusions: Loss of trust in institutions, human rights violations and governance challenges are common in the three countries and constitute trends harmful to democracy. Varieties of Populism in 21st century Latin America and their manifestations in regional integration Pablo Garcés Velástegui, Valeria Garrido Salas Global Discourse. 2025 Populism is a contested term, receiving multiple qualifications in the historical record. From classic to radical populism, the scholarship on Latin America’s experience is no exception. While such efforts to grasp the phenomenon underscore its inherent plurality, they fail to recognize its limited diversity, leading to questions about their analytical validity. To address this situation, we analyze a sample of speeches of six presidents in 21 st century Latin America related, to different extents, to regional integration. This topic is particularly relevant given the growing attention to specific issues in the literature, where foreign policy stands out, and the contested nature of regionalism itself. We employ socio-cultural viability theory’s typology, which depicts four ideal typical ways of perceiving, ordering, and justifying social arrangements: individualism, hierarchy and egalitarianism (which are active), and fatalism (which is passive). The results show that the three active worldviews account for all varieties of populism. By so doing, this framework brings a degree of order to the debate and points to promising avenues for further research Why Democracy Survives Populism Kurt Weyland Journal of democracy. 2024 This essay suggests that while populism certainly can be a mortal threat to democracy, the worst outcome is less common than observers have feared. The author’s research shows that among forty populist governments in Latin America and Europe from 1985 to 2020, only seven led to authoritarian rule. It concludes that democracy often shows considerable resilience, with most populist leaders failing to suffocate liberal pluralism due to institutional checks, balances, and opposition mobilization. While the threat of populism requires constant attention and energetic countermeasures, there is no need for global alarmism Why Latin America's Democracies Are Stuck Scott Mainwaring, Aníbal Pérez-Liñán Journal of democracy. 2023 This essay documents a tendency toward democratic decline in Latin America in the last two decades. We note, however, that the modal regional pattern is not decline but democratic stagnation. We conceptualize democratic stagnation as a situation in which democracies have important and persistent democratic deficits. Three factors have contributed to the widespread pattern of stagnation in Latin America: powerful actors that block democratic deepening; poor governing results that fuel dissatisfaction and pave the way for authoritarian populists; and «hybrid states» that violate citizens’ rights, fail to provide security and quality public services, and are captured by powerful interests Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing: The Autocratic Subversion of Brazil’s Fourth Estate Luiza Monetti The American behavioral scientist. 2024 This article investigates the strategies modern-day autocrats use to delegitimate the press as a means of consolidating power, including in democratic states. Using content analysis and Brazil as a case study, I examine Bolsonaro’s online discourse on X and YouTube, during the second half of his administration (January 2021–December 2022). I argue that Bolsonaro endeavors to promote an image of the press that centers on three elements: unreliability, obsolescence, and being an enemy to the people. The delegitimation of the press through discursive, insidious means suggests a change in the way autocrats exercise power. Rather than deploying the repressive tactics of old, modern autocrats are updating their toolbox to monopolize power while enjoying the legitimacy normally granted by democratic norms. These findings raise questions about the dispersion of authoritarian practices in supposed democracies |