Latin American Populism Between Horizontalism and Verticalism

Abstract

Latin American populism is characterized by its heterogeneity. Considering its three major waves and other political discourses defined as populist, there is no doubt that it is a complex phenomenon in the region. This article aims to provide a political theory of populism and analytical tools to problematize discourse theory by characterizing Latin American populism considering the concepts of autonomy and hegemony. Thus, from a critical analysis of Ernesto Laclau’s theory of populism, considering also plebeian republicanism, performative theory, and the post-hegemony approach, the article proposes an analytical axis between verticality and horizontality to characterize the three major waves and other examples of populist phenomena in the region. In this way, I recognize a radical democratic creative tension between, on the one side, local mobilizations and horizontal expansion of social demands, and, on the other side, populist discourses that emphasize verticality in the figure of the leader, as well as a variety of hybrid forms.