Anti-Neoliberal Populisms in Comparative Perspective

Enrico Padoan is a postdoctoral researcher at the Faculty of Social and Political Studies of the Scuola Normale Superiore, Italy. He had his PhD in Comparative Politics from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, Chile. His research interests focus on populism, labor politics and social movements.

"A work of impressive theoretical nuance and empirical breadth. Padoan enriches our understanding of anti-neoliberal populist mobilization and successfully bridges the unwarranted analytical divide between Latin American and European scholars of populism."Paris Aslanidis, Yale University"We very often hear about the latinamericanization of Southern European politics. This is usually argued in relation to the analysis of populist phenomena in the two continents and often betrays a neocolonial disdain for both (egalitarian) populism and Latin America. Padoan’s comprehensive study is arguably the first one that offers a rigorous and thoroughly illuminating analysis of the links between Latin American and European political reactions to neoliberalism beyond any such Eurocentric bias."Yannis Stavrakakis, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki"Financial crises, austerity measures, and neoliberal reforms have spawned social protest and populist reactions in both Southern Europe and Latin America, but the parallels between the two regions have rarely been studied systematically. Enrico Padoan breaks new ground in this comparative, cross-regional analysis of anti-neoliberal populisms in the early 21st century. Padoan skillfully weaves together the roles of political parties, labor unions, social movements, and populist leaders to explain how different types of left alternatives emerged to contest neoliberalism and realign national political orders following severe financial crises. This book is sure to leave its mark on scholarly debates over the transformation of political representation in contemporary Southern Europe and Latin America."Kenneth M. Roberts, Professor of Government, Cornell University

• 1. Introduction 2. The Argument 3. Bolivia: Movement-Based Populism in Power 4. Argentina’s Kirchnerism: A Party-Rooted Populist Project Incorporating New Social Actors 5. Podemos. The Left-Wing Movement Populism that Renewed the Spanish Left 6. The Italian Five Star MoVement: A Leader-Initiated Populism against all the Existing Structures of Socio-Political Intermediation 7. Venezuela, Uruguay, Portugal and Greece 8. Conclusions