The end of an epoch. The limits of populism

BIGLIERI, PAULA

Buenos Aires

Workshop; Populist Politics in Latin America; 2015

Facultad de Filosofía y Letras

We can say that, paradoxically, the nemeses of populisms lie in their own success. We can mention three basic aspects in this sense. First, one of the merits of populism is to make out of an incipient chain of equivalence, the people. Second, the amplification of the chain of equivalence has enabled their political efficacy, but at the same time, it becomes the point of release for many who stop being identified with those movements. That is the moment when the logic of the difference starts prevailing over the equivalence one. Third, the need of an almost permanent demonstration that populisms have sooner or later erodes the potency of those same public expressions.