Nation-states and national states: Latin America in comparative perspective

Abstract Polarization may be the most consistent effect of populism, as it is integral to the logic of constructing populist subjects. This article distinguishes between constitutive, spatial and institutional dimensions of polarization, adopting a cross-regional comparative perspective on different subtypes of populism in Europe, Latin America and the US. It explains why populism typically arises in contexts of low political polarization (the US being a major, if partial, outlier), but has the effect of sharply increasing polarization by constructing an anti-establishment political frontier, politicizing new policy or issue dimensions, and contesting democracy's institutional and procedural norms. Populism places new issues on the political agenda and realigns partisan and electoral competition along new programmatic divides or political cleavages. Its polarizing effects, however, raise the stakes of political competition and intensify conflict over the control of key institutional sites.

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The Economic Development of East Asia and Latin America in Comparative Perspective

Globalization and Development ◽

10.1057/9781137316394_2 ◽

2013 ◽

pp. 19-35

Author(s):

Anthony Elson

Keyword(s):

Economic Development ◽

Latin America ◽

East Asia ◽

Comparative Perspective

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Introduction

10.1093/oso/9780197605318.003.0001 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-4

Author(s):

Luis Roniger

Keyword(s):

Nineteenth Century ◽

Latin America ◽

Latin American ◽

Transnational Migration ◽

Dynamic Character ◽

Nation States ◽

Latin American Development

The introduction addresses the idea of “Latin America” as a constructed concept of transnational and comparative significance. It introduces the reader to the dynamic character of regional perspectives, with questions that have grown increasingly complex given the contested nature of borders, increasing globalization, multiculturalism, and transnational migration. Although diversity defines Latin America, supporting comparative approaches within and beyond its fluid boundaries, it is equally important to note the shared geopolitical, sociological, and cultural trends that have shaped a transnational domain of connected histories, recurrent interactions, and continental visions. These transnational trends have emerged time and again, affecting the nation-states that crystallized in the nineteenth century. It is to the analysis of this Janus face of Latin American development that the book’s chapters turn.

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How and Where Does Populism Thrive?

Populism and Liberal Democracy ◽

10.1093/oso/9780198837886.003.0004 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 133-188

Author(s):

Takis S. Pappas

Keyword(s):

Latin America ◽

Comparative Perspective ◽

Social Unit ◽

Empirical Examination ◽

The People ◽

Postwar Europe

Chapter 4 answers the question: How, and where, does populism rise to power? through an empirical examination of the concepts and theories established in earlier chapters It begins with an elaborate analysis of the most important cases of populist emergence in postwar Europe and Latin America (including, in order of historical appearance, Argentina, Greece, Peru, Italy, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Hungary) and continues, in counterfactual fashion, with two nation cases, Brazil and Spain, in which populism could have grown strong, but did not. This is followed by an analysis of modern U.S. populism in a comparative perspective. American populism, in particular, offers several insights, especially into the role of extraordinary radical leadership and the complexities of dealing with the “people” as an ostensibly homogeneous social unit in an otherwise heterogeneous society.

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