Video by Madeleine Deis, Christine Joy Ganase, Frances Perry, and Stephanie Steevie
Populism is a difficult work to unpack. And its connotations have probably changed significantly over time. I believe that populism is intrinsically connected to a broad public or mass attraction. As such, it might defy traditional conservative perspectives on politics as exclusionary and being relegated to a certain political class. Populism can be construed as dangerous much as social movements can be (originally analyzed by political scientists as destructive “mob” mentalities). There is definitely a paternalism from political elite when deeming these populist movements as negative or “unfit” to the…read more
Caudillos: “figures who entered the vacuum of power left by the collapse of the Spanish colonial state and who offered hope for stability through the force of their will and their capacity to vanquish their enemies.” In this sense, the appeal of the strongmen makes sense: the individual leadership was a stark difference compared to […]
