Populism has become one of the most overused terms in political discourse today. It can embrace authoritarian and nativist right-wing politicians but also those on the left who appeal for popular support for transformation. In its dominant usage it is seen as inimical to the values of liberal democracy. Yet others see it as part of the construction of a people-centred project that can realize true democracy.
What is clear is that much of the debate around populism has been from the perspective of the global North and the voice of the South has been largely missing. This volume addresses this absence and provides a Latin American perspective to the global study of populism.
It argues that Latin America in its rich and early experience of populism is a valuable laboratory to further our understanding and to address the question of whether populism now goes beyond the dichotomy of left and right and is a new political phenomenon.
The book presents a series of case studies with cross-cutting overview chapters that highlight the lessons to be learned from new research. Each chapter is set within a tight conceptual framework in order to better understand contemporary Latin American politics “after the pink tide” and to enrich the international debate on populism from a Latin American perspective.
Table of Content
Foreword by Jean Grugel
1. Populism in Latin America: development, democracy and social transformation, Ronaldo Munck
2. Peronism in Argentina: left or right? Marcelo Raimundo
3. The populist left in Chile: socialists and communists from 1936 to 1973, Igor Goicovic
4. The left and the Workers’ Party in Brazil: a party between populism, social policies and the popular vote, Reinaldo Lindolfo Lohn and Silvia Maria Fávero Arend
5. Brazil, Bolsonaro and populism of the right, Victor de Oliveira Pinto Coelho
6. Political dilemmas of the government of Lopez Obrador: between populism, democracy and the left in Mexico, Patricia Pensado Leglise
7. The Bolivarian process in Venezuela: socialism, populism, or neoliberalism? Roberto López Sánchez
8. Populist responses to crises of market democracy: the case of Bolivia’s Evo Morales, John Brown
9. Ecuador: populism and the 2007–17 political cycle, Pablo Dávalos
10. The Nicaraguan crisis and the mirage of left populism, William I. Robinson
11. Populism and the right in Latin America, Barry Cannon
12. Populism and the left in Latin America, Mariana Mastrángelo and Pablo Pozzi
Afterword: a tale of two “people”: national popular and twenty-first-century Latin American populisms, Francisco Panizza
About the author
Ronaldo Munck is Head of Civic Engagement at Dublin City University and a Visiting Professor of International Development at the University of Liverpool and St. Mary’s University, Nova Scotia. He has authored or edited more than 30 books on various topics related to globalization, international development and social movements, including Contemporary Latin America (third edition 2012).
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