Populists assume nationalist positions because they have an epic content that society likes. Putin integrates in his speech the glories of the tsars with the costly feats of Stalinist barbarism and his own ambitions for a great power. Trump with his verbal excesses invokes violent nationalism and despises all countries. He reproaches us Mexicans for stealing their jobs, the Chinese for copying their industrial ideas, and the Europeans for taking advantage of the United States to get their defense for free.
Currently, according to various estimates, 70% of the world’s population, that is, 5.4 billion people, live in countries that have dictatorial or authoritarian governments, which means a democratic regression.
Populists are parasites of democracy, they live from it through elections that they win to legitimize themselves. His weapon is the disqualification of institutions, social dissatisfaction and regressive promises.
Just as the disastrous government of Trump lived in the United States, which is also seeking re-election, it is not unreasonable to think that in France the right-wing opportunist Le Pen could come to power, who cynically said: “Socially I am from the left, economically from the right . And always with France at the center of my thoughts.
What must be accepted is that democracy does not work automatically. The mediations of the political parties are needed. It is impossible without them. When they enter into crisis, very precarious institutional returns are created and electoral abstentionism becomes the response to the perception of their deficiencies.
Faced with the institutional and economic crises in Latin America, it is now insistently proposed to promote their integration, as a form of cooperation to solve national and regional problems. For this, the words people, nationalism, homeland are used, which frequently and thus history reveals, are the basis for constructing exclusive mythologies.
A great limitation for the development of Latin America is the precarious rule of law. Freedom cannot be dissociated from justice because they are two values that must go together. Fundamental social rights such as education, work and health are necessary. They constitute the precondition for a better exercise of freedom.
The Latin American democratic crisis associated with a social deficit and economic problems will only be resolved with an economic and social development policy that allows for greater investment, more employment, and greater productivity in a context of broad international relations. And a warning from John Maynard Keynes, the illustrious English economist: “The two vices that characterize the economic world in which we live are that full employment is not guaranteed and that the distribution of wealth and income is arbitrary and unequal.”
