Abstract
Contemporary politics is increasingly entering an era of global populism. Within this challenging context, the lessons from past experience on populism, in which Latin America and “Latin-Americanists” have particular prominence, can contribute to provide a satisfactory response to many pressing questions concerning the foreign policies of today’s populist regimes. This chapter explores possible patterns in the formulation of foreign policies among Latin-American populist regimes during the periods known as “classic populism” (1930sִ–1950s), “neoliberal neopopulism” (1980s–1990s), and “progressive neopopulism” (2000s–). The Latin American experience serves as a multi-dimensional case study for analyzing a range of populist eras in the same region and comparing, with significant variance in time and space, how populist regimes conducted their policies on the regional, sub-regional, interregional, and global levels. The findings of such a comparative study indicate that it is difficult to define a coherent “populist foreign policy” in Latin America in terms of ideological or programmatic content. Nevertheless, it is possible to distinguish a greater tendency among Latin-American populists to support regionalist and globalist policies by empowering identity-based solidarities, and thus legitimizing themselves locally, regionally and internationally. This chapter aims to contribute to a growing research program focusing on populist foreign policies.
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Wajner, D.F. (2019). Making (Latin) America Great Again: Lessons from Populist Foreign Policies in the Americas. In: Stengel, F.A., MacDonald, D.B., Nabers, D. (eds) Populism and World Politics. Global Political Sociology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04621-7_8
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