Neopopulism in Venezuela: Myth or Reality?

Abstract

Latin American political history in XX and XXI centuries has been marked by the emergence of political proposals with national and popular trends that appeal to the State-government-masses relationship to justify the erosion of the partisan establishment and the rejection of economic models. This phenomenon has been defined as populism, a term that has been widely debated since Irigoyen in Argentina to Chavez in Venezuela, due to its matching features and its divergent ideological tendencies. For this reason and with the aim of contributing to the various presentations from authors such as Laclau, Touraine, Ellner, Roberts, among others, this article pretends to present historical and conceptual variables that lead to conclude whether chavismo is a neopopulist or populist government.