Latin America in the 21st century: from the shift to the left to the ideological fragmentation

Authors

  • Constanza Mazzina Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina
  • Santiago Leiras Universidad de Buenos Aires

Keywords:

Left, Right, Ideological fragmentation, Political polarization, Democracy

Abstract

The emerging governments of Latin America in the first decade of the 21st century have been emblematic manifestations of the so-called “turn to the left”, with Hugo Chávez Frías in Venezuela, among others, Lula Da Silva in Brazil in 2003 and Dilma Rousseff from 2011, Néstor Kirchner in Argentina in 2003 and Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner from 2007, Evo Morales in Bolivia in 2005, Rafael Correa in Ecuador in 2007, Fernando Lugo in Paraguay in 2008, Tabaré Vázquez in 2005, José Mojica in 2009 and again Tabaré Vázquez from 2014 in Uruguay, giving rise to different leftist alternatives: populist, neo-populist and social democratic. A new wave of uncertainty is shaking Latin America. The “Bolivarian breeze”, the “right-wing coup” and “a destabilizing process” invite us to analyze what is happening, beyond the conspiracy theories and the desires of some leaders. What happened in the region during the last five years? Was there a right turn? Is a new left-turn possible? What is the current picture of the region? The purpose of this paper is to analyze the ideological panorama of the region, starting from the premise of the existence of at least two predominant characteristics in the region: first, the ideological fragmentation, second, its political polarization.

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Author Biographies

  • Constanza Mazzina, Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina

    Graduate in International Relations from the Universidad del Salvador, Master in Economics and Political Science (ESEADE), Doctor in Political Science (UCA). She did his post-doctorate at IBEI, Spain, on Latin American Politics. She teaches undergraduate degrees at UADE and in postgraduate degrees at the doctorate and master's level. She currently teaches courses in the Doctorate in Political Science (UB and USAL), in the Master in Political Marketing (USAL) and Institutional Analysis in the Master in Economics and Political Science (ESEADE). Columnist in the Argentine and foreign media.

     

  • Santiago Leiras, Universidad de Buenos Aires

    Graduated in Political Science from the University of Buenos Aires-Argentina (UBA), Diploma of Advanced Studies and Doctor in contemporary Latin America from the Ortega y Gasset University Research Institute of Madrid-Spain (IUOG). Regular Associate Professor at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) and Associate Professor at the University of Belgrano (UB). Author of the book The Southern Cone and its leaders in Latin America Carlos Menem and Fernando Collor de Melo in comparative perspective (2009), compiler of the State of Exception and Democracy in Latin America. Argentina, Brazil, Peru and Venezuela in comparative perspective (2010), Democracy and state of exception: Argentina 1983-2008 (2012), South America at the beginning of the new millennium: between continuity and change (2015) Giro a left or turn to the center? Argentina and the Southern Cone, between continuity and change (2020) and author of more than thirty works on his specialty.

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Published

06-12-2021

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 1 (2021): Revista Relaciones Internacionales

Section

Articles

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The authors transfer the copyright rights in favor of the Faculty of Jurisprudence and Social Sciences of the University of El Salvador (through Aequus Editorial) to include their writing in Revista Relaciones Internacionales.

How to Cite

“Latin America in the 21st Century: From the Shift to the Left to the Ideological Fragmentation”. 2021. Revista Relaciones Internacionales 3 (1): 111-30. https://revistas.ues.edu.sv/index.php/reinter/article/view/2070.