From Proximity Legitimacy to Populism: Analyzing the Change in the Discourse of Mauricio Macri

Abstract

The article analyzes the change in the political discourse of former Argentine President Mauricio Macri. The article analyzes the change from a legitimacy of proximity and technocratic discourse that characterized the campaign prior to the PASO of 2019, to a populist discourse in the context of the campaign called “Sí, se puede” that emerged after the defeat in the elections. The article shows how political leaders use populism, technocracy and proximity legitimacy as discursive political strategies and how they adopt them in their discourseto try to gain popular support