Populism and democracy: Venezuela and Ecuador, in the eye of the storm

Abstract

This article explains the relationship between populism and democracy in the left-wing governments of Ecuador and Venezuela, under the leadership of Rafael Correa and Hugo Chávez. For this purpose, a comparative policy exercise of similar cases is carried out, in countries where the same
populist phenomenon occurs, although the political variables of both, within a polyarchy regime, historically record different behaviors. The relationship between populism and democracy has been analyzed from three different academic perspectives. These perspectives examine the so-called classical populism that occurred between the 30s to the 60s, the neo-populism of the 90s and the
radical populism of the first decade of the 21st century. The first perspective argues that this political phenomenon damages democracy because of how it destroys the political system's institutions of liberal democracy; the second considers that populism contains democratizing elements due to the expansion of the political community who concedes the entry of those excluded; and the third argues that populism reflects the state of health of the democracy.