Populist Seduction in Latin America. Carlos de la Torre
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Populist Seduction in Latin America
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Populist Seduction in Latin America
Second Edition
Carlos de la Torre
Ohio University Research in International Studies
Latin America Series No. 50
Ohio University Press
Athens
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Center for International Studies
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First edition published as Populist Seduction in Latin America: The Ecuadorian Experience by Ohio University Press. ©2000 by the Center for International Studies, Ohio University
Printed in the United States of America
The books in the Ohio University Research in International Studies Series are printed on acid-free paper f ™
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication
Torre, Carlos de la.
Populist seduction in Latin America / Carlos de la Torre. — 2nd ed.
p. cm. — (Ohio university research in international studies, latin america series; No. 50)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-89680-279-7 (pb : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-89680-474-6 (electronic)
1. Populism—Ecuador—History—20th century. 2. Ecuador—Politics and government—20th century.3. Velasco Ibarra, José María, 1893–1979. 4. Bucaram Ortiz, Abdalá, 1952–5. Populism—Latin America—History—20th century. 6. Political culture—Ecuador. 7. Political culture—Latin America. I. Title.
JL3081.T672010
320.9866—dc22
2010000620
Contents
Chapter 1 The Ambiguity of Latin American “Classical” Populism
Chapter 2 Velasquista Seduction
Chapter 3 Leader of the Poor or Repugnant Other?
Abdalá Bucaram’s Populism
Chapter 4 The Continuing Populist Temptation
Chapter 5 The Resurgence of Radical Populism in Latin America
Between Radical Populism and a Citizens’ Revolution
Conclusion Between Authoritarianism and Democracy
Preface to the Second Edition
Since the publication of Populist Seduction in Latin America in 2000 there has been a renaissance of scholarship on populism.1 The term has also traveled from academia to the media and policy circuits. Populism currently is used to describe the left-wing and nationalist governments of Hugo Chávez, Rafael Correa, and Evo Morales, which claim their legitimacy through winning elections, but which also follow certain authoritarian practices. Critics have charged these regimes with not respecting the separation of powers, the rule of law, the rights of the opposition, or the independence of the media. Critics also claim that their ultranationalist and statist economic policies cannot last and are viable only because of the current high prices of mineral resources. In these rentier states, for example, oil accounts for 75 percent of Venezuela’s exports and for 64 percent of Ecuador’s; in Bolivia natural gas accounts for 52 percent of all exports (Weyland 2009, 151). Contrary to these pessimistic and sobering assessments, Chávez, Correa, and Morales claim to be leading post-neoliberal regimes that have enhanced rights and that are experimenting with new forms of democratic politics. Their supporters consider these regimes as creative experiments of hope that can show to the left in the West the possibility for novel post-neoliberal social and economic policies. These experiments, they argue, can rejuvenate and reinvigorate democracy.
These contradictory assessments about the state of democracy in Latin America, and about its relationship with populism, are based on how the word democracy has been understood through three democratizing traditions. The first is the liberal-republican democratic tradition, with its emphasis on individual freedoms, pluralism, procedural politics, accountability, and institutional designs aimed at maintaining checks and balances between the different branches of government. The second tradition, rooted in Marxism, emphasizes social justice and has advocated direct forms of democratic representation and participation in pyramidal citizen councils where delegates can be recalled (Held 1987, 105–39). Populism represents the third democratizing tradition. Populist leaders have constructed politics as an ethical and moral confrontation between the people and