Populism, the new bête noire in Latin America: The reactionary view of current political change

Abstract

This paper analyzes the resurgence of “populism” in Latin American political life, a concept that has moved away from its original meaning as a category of sociological and political study to become a political weapon, a synonym for corruption and demagoguery. This transformation has been influenced by the predominance of neoliberalism and procedural democracy, regarded as the two main paths to modernizing Latin American economics and politics. By reviewing the classic authors on the subject and comparing them with the contemporary ideas of some scholars, it shows that the prevailing reactionary discourse has sought to point out and denounce as populist those political movements that do not follow pre-established paths, paving the way for the construction of an image of the “populist” as a great threat to Latin America.