Echoes of the Tea Party Movement

Abstract

This article examines the rise of right-wing populism in Latin America, challenging the common assumption that it is largely a regional variant of the European Populist Radical Right (PRR). Although figures like Jair Bolsonaro, José Antonio Kast, Javier Milei, and Nayib Bukele exhibit populist tendencies and culture-war rhetoric, the article argues that their programmatic differences are significant and create tensions within the right-wing spectrum. Existing approaches based on the PRR category risk obscuring these internal fault lines. To provide a more nuanced framework, the article draws on the history of the United States conservative movement, which has long encompassed diverse strands, including classical conservatism, right-wing populism, evangelical Christianity, and libertarianism. These strands have sometimes converged, but have rarely achieved sustained unity. The analysis shows that Latin America’s right similarly comprises analogous ideological currents, as well as the regional peculiarity of mano-dura populism. Based on an analysis of programmatic texts, current cases of right-wing populism in Latin America are analyzed. A preliminary overview of programmatic profiles shows significant divergences among these cases, which are grouped into three programmatic clusters. KEYWORDS: Right-Wing Populism; New Latin American Right; Right-Wing Ideology; Mano-Dura Populism; Populist Radical Right (PRR).