Introduction: the dialectics of populism and authoritarianism and the challenge of environmental justice

With his book Populism in Brazilian Politics, published in 1978, Brazilian sociologist Francisco Weffort offered Latin American scholars a seminal – and today an already classical – contribution to the analysis of populism (Weffort, 1978). In fact, it is a fundamental work for all those who intend to reflect on this recurring phenomenon of Latin American politics. ‘Populism’, however, is a controversial concept, and its content has been appropriated in different ways and with different emphases according to each historical moment and each author's world view. For Weffort, for example, the populist system would be characterised by an anti-liberal and anti-oligarchical bias; a strong degree of disregard in relation to political parties; a nationalist orientation; a clear fondness of industrialisation; and last but not least, a multi-class social composition and cross-class discourse, in spite of most political support coming from the urban workers. Such a picture may perhaps accurately describe regimes and styles of government of the mid-20th century such as that of Getúlio Vargas and Jânio Quadros in Brazil, or of Juan Perón in Argentina, but it is no longer valid without reservations in the 21st century, for reasons that will become clear in the course of the discussion.

Old populism of the mid-20th century has in common with its contemporary expressions the fact that all populist regimes are elected through the mechanisms of representative democracy. In this sense, even if Getúlio Vargas’ dictatorial Estado Novo or New State (1938–45) already contained clear populist elements, it is the ‘democratic’ Vargas (1950–54) who fully represents old populism. Populist rulers always tried to seduce the ‘people’ as voters through government-influenced institutions (such as unions) as well as directly on the basis of massive propaganda, while at the same time searching to restrict direct popular involvement in politics. However, the beginning of the 21st century saw the birth of a different kind of populist government – leftist neo-populism.