How Populism Corrodes Latin American Parties

One of the main ways in which populism damages democracy is through the corrosion of political-party systems, a phenomenon that has been especially pronounced in contemporary Latin America. Populism’s core, namely charismatic leadership, is to blame: Overbearing personalistic leaders avoid hemming in their own autonomy and predominance by keeping their electoral movements organizationally fluid and weak. And because opposing populism entails confronting a charismatic leader rather than a clear programmatic project, the opposition itself remains diverse and heterogeneous and thus fails to unify and form a political party. Latin America’s fragmented social structure, high economic volatility, and frequent corruption scandals exacerbate these corrosive tendencies.