Populism and institutions in Latin America. A comparative assessment between Ecuador and Argentina

POPINLAT scrutinises the oft-contested and under-theorised relationship between populism and institutions through a comparative analysis of the recent left-of-centre processes in Ecuador (2007-2017) and Argentina (2003-2015).

This research innovatively brings into the analysis also the post-populist phase in order to assess the resilience and embeddedness of the institutionality left behind by the populist rule (2017-2020 and 2015-2019, respectively) and, as a result, allows to theorise on the possibility and conditions of emergence of a ""republican populism"".

In this sense, the current moment is particularly well-suited to carry out the proposed research.

POPINLAT is situated at the crossroads of different disciplines, namely political theory, comparative politics and institutional analysis, thus using and integrating diverse methodologies.

POPINLAT will be based at the University of Venice Ca’ Foscari, with the outgoing phase taking place at the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales FLACSO-Ecuador in Quito.

It also envisages a secondment at the London School of Economics (LSE) and a short stay at the National University of La Matanza, in the province of Buenos Aires.

By looking at the institutional merits and shortcomings of the two cases, the project will cast light on the Latin American pink tide as a whole, and more importantly, provide a novel approach in populism studies, which can be applied to the European case as well.

Having an excellent competence in populism and discourse analysis, and having worked in the Ecuadorian institutions during the period under scrutiny, I think of being in a favourable position to successfully complete this research and obtain professional maturity so as to become a leading academic in the field of populism studies.