Latin American Populism: Tentative Reflections for a Global Historiographical Perspective

Latin American populism has usually been considered as an integrationist strategy towards the urban working classes in the context of mass democracy and import substitution industrialization. Among its features, the following ones can be identified: support from the working classes, charismatic lead...

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Main Author: Omar Acha
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Centre de Recherches sur les Mondes Américains 2013-02-01
Series:Nuevo mundo - Mundos Nuevos
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/nuevomundo/64834
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author Omar Acha
author_facet Omar Acha
author_sort Omar Acha
collection DOAJ
description Latin American populism has usually been considered as an integrationist strategy towards the urban working classes in the context of mass democracy and import substitution industrialization. Among its features, the following ones can be identified: support from the working classes, charismatic leadership, nationalism and anti-intellectualism, anti-communism, state-centered conception of historical change, and corporatism. Recent writings influenced by the “linguistic” and “cultural” turns, despite their different social ontologies, also proclaim Latin American populisms’ peculiarity. In these cases the notion of “political style” prevails over socio-economic explanations. The available investigations are often based on national experiences or comparative approaches among two (or three) cases like Peronism and Varguism, or Cardenism. In so doing they provide a catalogue of “populisms” instead of a common understanding of the so called “Latin American” populism. This paper aims to review the very question of “Latin American populism” from a critical understanding of a global historiographical perspective. From this complex point of view it will be argued that historical analysis requires a globalizing critique of the prevailing social theory, and of the often implicit historiographical assumptions. The core of the argumentation will be focused on the Western distinction between state politics and civil society.
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spelling doaj.art-b7d5a49c284b4f8f9b8c8a74ae3045592024-02-14T16:54:54ZengCentre de Recherches sur les Mondes AméricainsNuevo mundo - Mundos Nuevos1626-02522013-02-0110.4000/nuevomundo.64834Latin American Populism: Tentative Reflections for a Global Historiographical PerspectiveOmar AchaLatin American populism has usually been considered as an integrationist strategy towards the urban working classes in the context of mass democracy and import substitution industrialization. Among its features, the following ones can be identified: support from the working classes, charismatic leadership, nationalism and anti-intellectualism, anti-communism, state-centered conception of historical change, and corporatism. Recent writings influenced by the “linguistic” and “cultural” turns, despite their different social ontologies, also proclaim Latin American populisms’ peculiarity. In these cases the notion of “political style” prevails over socio-economic explanations. The available investigations are often based on national experiences or comparative approaches among two (or three) cases like Peronism and Varguism, or Cardenism. In so doing they provide a catalogue of “populisms” instead of a common understanding of the so called “Latin American” populism. This paper aims to review the very question of “Latin American populism” from a critical understanding of a global historiographical perspective. From this complex point of view it will be argued that historical analysis requires a globalizing critique of the prevailing social theory, and of the often implicit historiographical assumptions. The core of the argumentation will be focused on the Western distinction between state politics and civil society.https://journals.openedition.org/nuevomundo/64834politicsLatin AmericaPopulismstatecivil society
spellingShingle Omar Acha
Latin American Populism: Tentative Reflections for a Global Historiographical Perspective
Nuevo mundo - Mundos Nuevos
politics
Latin America
Populism
state
civil society
title Latin American Populism: Tentative Reflections for a Global Historiographical Perspective
title_full Latin American Populism: Tentative Reflections for a Global Historiographical Perspective
title_fullStr Latin American Populism: Tentative Reflections for a Global Historiographical Perspective
title_full_unstemmed Latin American Populism: Tentative Reflections for a Global Historiographical Perspective
title_short Latin American Populism: Tentative Reflections for a Global Historiographical Perspective
title_sort latin american populism tentative reflections for a global historiographical perspective
topic politics
Latin America
Populism
state
civil society
url https://journals.openedition.org/nuevomundo/64834
work_keys_str_mv AT omaracha latinamericanpopulismtentativereflectionsforaglobalhistoriographicalperspective