(AÚN) LA EXCEPCIÓN Y NO LA REGLA: LA DERECHA POPULISTA RADICAL EN AMÉRICA LATINA

Abstract

Undoubtedly, populist radical right parties (rpps) represent the largest family of populist parties. However, in the 18 countries that make up the South American subcontinent, only two leaders seem to fully embody this ideology: Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil and José Antonio Kast in Chile. The aim of this article is to examine the reasons behind the scarce proliferation of PRRs in Latin America. In Western Europe the emergence of these parties is related to a sort of silent counter-revolution (Inglehart 1971; Ignazi 1992) in opposition to post-material values on which many traditional parties have converged in past decades. In contrast, in Latin America material values are still of vital importance due to the high levels of inequality in the region. Moreover, the article demonstrates that the simultaneous occurrence of three factors that combine the European experience and characteristics of the continent was the only reason one radical right-wing populist leader has been able to successfully rise to power in Latin America until today. First, the existence of a discourse that politicizes issues such as security and traditional values. Second, the nativist discourse, which unlike most PRR parties in Western Europe and the US —where the excluded are immigrants— is characterized by the fact that discrimination is mostly against native people. Finally, the third characteristic is the reliance on a negative identity against the left.