Latin American Populism: Evolution and Impact in the 20th Century

1. Latin American Populism

2. Americas Syllabus Location • Section 13: Latin American politics in the first half of the 20th Century • Evolution of nationalism, indigenism, and populism • Role of military • Leaders, single-party states and populism: Vargas, Peron • Nature and effectiveness of dissent

3. Characteristics of Populist

4. Outsider to traditional political elites • Legalistic in his or her approach to change • Spoke in nationalist terms • Believed in middle road between unbridled capitalism and communism • Advocated a strongly interventionist role for the state in the national economy • Branded elites as the “oligarchy” and condemned them for their selfishness and lack of foresight • Condemned imperialism in moralistic terms

5. Was frequently branded as “fascist” by opponents • Was a charismatic figure of great personal magnetism and superior oratorical skills • Enjoyed paternalistic relationships with their followers • Stressed the immorality of the status quo • Studied the oratory and ideology of European dictators • Believed that massive social transformations could be effected through existing structures through peaceful reform

6. Appealed to lower class and lower middle class voters affected by uneven or cyclical development • Lacked a systemic approach to political economy, viewing it as a function of the interaction between “good” and “evil” social groups • A populist’s strength rested on his or her strength of personality rather than party organization

7. Early Populism in South America • Two phases of populism • First phase is called the “reformist phase” and takes place before the Great Depression • Second phase began in the late 1930s “Classic Populism” • By the 1960s a series of military coups had brought an end to the populist era • A resurgence of populism is taking place in Latin America

8. Reformist Populist • Leaders generally addressed: • Voter rights and elections • Nationalism • Labor relations • Built movements on broad agreement around these ideas • Votes for early populist came from all social classes • Their strategy was to reform society in order to protect it from the radicals

9. Examples of Reformist Populists • Jose Batlle y Ordonez - Uruguay • Hipolito Yrigoyen - Argentina • Arturo Alessandri - Chile • Some foundation for their ideas grew out of Spanish liberalism (Hispanismo) which drew from ideas of German Karl Christian Fredrich Krause (Krausismo)

10. Krausismo • Alternative to positivism and Social Darwinism • Uplifting less fortunate • Education at all levels • Womens rights • Labor unions • International law as basis for peace • Valued ethical behavior and appreciation of culture over material success

11. Classic Populism • Political economy dominated the agenda • Urbanization and industrialization lead to increased populations in the cities • Working class voters now outnumbered rural voters • Approached through labor unions and associations • Populist leaders appealed to these voters by offering larger share of national income and jobs • Programs were nationalistic, pledged to end economic dependency

12. Populist challenged the entrenched power structures • Church • Army • Landed elite • Bankers • Foreign investors • Traditional parties • The question was how would these groups respond

13. Early cooperation between populist and establishment (benefited from each other) • First nonviolent mass movements in the region’s history • As long as populist leaders did not threaten existing power holders they prospered and gave Latin American politics a modern face • By the mid 1950s populist began to upset older elites • Army, church, industrialists

14. Examples of Classic Populists • Lazaro Cardenas - Mexico • Getulio Vargas - Brazil • Juan Peron - Argentina • Haya de la Torre - Peru • Jose Maria Velasco Ibarra - Ecuador • Romulo Betancourt - Venezuela • Victor Paz Estenssoro - Bolivia • Jorge Eliecer Gaitan - Colombia • Jose “Pepe” Figueres Ferrer - Costa Rica