Democratic Populism and Political Mobilization. The Rise to Power of Hugo Chávez in Its Historical and Political Context

Abstract

The article aims to develop a definition of “populism” according to the Latin American context and the specific characteristics of regional democracies, based on various classic and current definitions. The author refers to the emergence of so-called neo-populist phenomena during the last two decades of the twentieth century. She establishes a comparison between neo-populism, which is a concept linked to a particular economic policy, and the concept of delegative democracy, which is orientated to the analysis of institutional quality. After elaborating an historical retrospective, the author discusses the specific case of Venezuela and the character of the first period of the populist regime led by Hugo Chavez.