We explain what populism is, its history and how this government is characterized. Examples of Latin American populisms. The Russian case.
The first populist governments emerged in the 19th century.What is populism?
Populism is a form of government with a strong leadership of a charismatic subject, with proposals for social equality and popular mobilization. It is important to note the dichotomous simplification and the clear predominance of emotional over rational arguments.
The term populism is used, in many cases, in a pejorativeIn itself it does not imply that the regime belongs to the right or the left, but rather it describes other aspects such as the lack of economic planning.
The governments populists may have Projects politicians of any kind. When Latin American governments take social measures designed to win the sympathy of the population, they are branded as populists. One of the criticisms of populism points to the universalizing nature of the term.
History of populism
It is correct to say that populism emerged in the 19th century simultaneously on Russian and American soil. Throughout the history, both the communist and socialist sectors have called the governments of countries that did not intend to overthrow the government populist. capitalism, but they were functional to that economic system.
Some common practices of populism have to do with holding a attitude criticism of the United States and planning economy under the Keynesian model. These governments have also tried that the popular sectors hold the totality of power, as an enemy face of the wealthy classes that have interests opposed to the working class.
Populist regimes have fostered indigenous culture to reject the imperialism, without necessarily reinforcing the nationalism. Some examples of these regimes were Mexican agrarianism, American populism, Italian Carbonari, and Spanish cantonalism.
Although governments of these characteristics have tried to maintain cold relations with the United States, there have also been presidents in that country who implemented populist practices, such as Roosevelt and Kennedy. In some Spanish newspapers Obama has been branded a populist, but this qualification was controversial.
Examples of populisms in Latin America
- Venezuela. The presidencies of Carlos Andrés Perez between 1989 and 1993, Hugo Chavez from 1999 and 2013, and finally, that of Nicolás Maduro from 2013 to the present.
- Ecuador. Presidents José María Velazco Ibarra in their multiple governments and Rafael Correa as of 2007.
- Bolivia. We have the presidency of Evo Morales from 2006 onwards.
- Brazil. Three populist presidencies, such as Vargas in his multiple governments, Lula from 2002 to 2006 and Dilma Rousseff from 2011.
- Chili. There is only one presidency as an exponent of this type of policy, that of Michelle Bachelet.
- Argentina. Several analysts have characterized the governments of Perón, and recently the governments of Néstor and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, as populist.
- Costa Rica. We can see the presidency of Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia between 1940 and 1944.
- Puerto Rico. There was only one populist presidency, that of Luis Muñoz Marín between 1949 and 1965.
- Mexico. We have the government of Lázaro Cárdenas between 1934 and 1940.
Russian populism
Russian populism restored to the people the faith that they could intervene in their future.
In Russia populism was a doctrine and one structure ideological product of a generation of young intellectuals who criticized national social, economic and political conditions in the mid-nineteenth century.
Populism was considered a thought radical, so that many young people did not go beyond theorizing to the commitment politician. Among the repercussions that professing populist thought could have are persecution, kidnappings and murders. In this context, Herzen is considered the father of this system, since he was firmly opposed to bourgeois development and hoped that the transition to the socialism it will be achieved without first going through capitalism.
Russian populism restored to the people the faith that they could intervene in their future and being a broad ideological sector and allowing themselves to embrace many positions of different natures, it gained many followers. Herzen, within the classical populist doctrine, explained the need for a revolution of the economic type, because one of the political type could not resolve all the contradictions in the nation.
Finally, we can make a chronological division of Russian populism:
- Radical stage. It is the first stage, which runs from 1850 to 1870. Here the entire theoretical and ideological apparatus is gestated but action is not reached.
- Anarchist stage. In this second stage, which lasts a decade and goes from 1860 to 1870, there is an approach of the intellectuals to the peasantry in order to educate them and theoretically prepare them for action.
- Liberal stage. In the third stage, which runs from 1880 to 1900, Russian populism tries to adapt to the capitalization of the economy. The people stop recognizing these ideas as liberating doctrines and instead adopt the Marxism.