Latin American Neopopulism

This article assesses recent counter-intuitive arguments that political populism and economic liberalism have had unexpected affinities in contemporary Latin America. In this line of reasoning populist tactics have furthered the enactment of drastic market reform, while neoliberal attacks on established political and economic interests have strengthened the hand of personalistic, plebiscitarian leaders. I defend these arguments against critical claims that neoliberalism is by nature exclusionary and therefore unpopular, foreclosing any opportunity for populist politics. Contrary to these claims, neoliberal neopopulism has significant inclusionary features as well. Undeniably, however, the postulated affinities were especially strong during the initial, bold phase of market reform, when neoliberalism offered a politically promising recipe for quickly confronting acute economic crises and thus proving the charisma of populist leaders. As stabilisation succeeds and crises ease, the main task turns from imposing bold reforms to reliably administering the institutional rules of the new development model. Personalistic plebiscitarian leaders are less well suited to this task and the alliance between neoliberal experts and neopopulist leaders therefore tends to weaken. Yet external and internal constraints make stark deviations from market-orientated economic policies unlikely, and deep economic crises and neopopulist experiences have weakened the organisational infrastructure of democracy in many countries, allowing for the rise of new personalistic plebiscitarian leaders. In the foreseeable future, neoliberalism and neopopulism are therefore likely to co-exist with considerable frequency in the region.