Fisuras entre Populismo y Democracia en América Latina

There is a widely shared view that the contemporary Left in Latin America can be divided into radical populist and social democratic forces. The paper questions the nature of this division. It argues that populism and social democracy cannot be seen as opposite sides of the same continuum but as different dimension of politics, which are relationally defined and redefined by the political context in which these forces operate. The paper will look at current forms of populist and social democratic representation in Latin America and compare with past experiences of the same modes of representation. It argues that the social, political, economic and ideological changes associated with phenomena such as globalisation and the emergence of more complex identities have altered relations of representation and affected the nature of both populism and social democracy in the region. The paper will illustrate the arguments with references to the various left of centre and radical populist governments of the region.