From Laclau to Latour: reassembling populism, in Ecuador and beyond

Against tendencies to dematerialize political phenomena, this article contributes to debates on contemporary populism by focusing on its material dimensions. I retrace the success of Rafael Correa and the Citizens’ Revolution in Ecuador (2007–2017) by linking it to the large-scale infrastructure construction programme that was developed in the country. Laclau’s influential discourse theory is both a useful starting point and of limited help for assessing populist dynamics in this context. Post-Laclauian scholars argue that discourse theory needs to be grounded in concrete, material contexts, taking into account socioeconomic conditions, bodily performances, cultural codes and affects. Another recent body of work assesses the infrastructures of populism, as especially leaders in resource-rich countries invest in spectacular construction projects to assert their power. I build on both these literatures, but also suggest a path to further materialize the analysis of populism. In the case I am describing, the populist movement appears as a Latourian actor-network, a more-than-human collective made up of ‘the people,’ the leader and the infrastructures of the patria. Populist performances, charisma and power thus need to be understood as entailed by this coming together of sociomaterial elements. Discourse theory’s chains of equivalence at the basis of political identities acquire a materiality that is active and uncertain, shaping both the populist network that governed Ecuador for 10 years and the opposition that eventually prevailed over it.