Perceptions and misperceptions in Latin American politics

Perceptions and misperceptions in Latin American politicsBreaking out from the traditional right-left paradigm, The case of Chile

Pedro Parraguez RuizUniversity of Bath

Geography in Latam as well as the politicallandscape is heterogeneous and complex

From the northern frontierin the Atacama desert

To the Patagonia fields and its “ice camps”,

The centre of the country in the coast

And the valleys

This geographic metaphor allows us to givea more detailed view at the left-right political paradigm

This is how we usually visualize the political spectrum

But a bi dimensional analysis is not enough

And Latin America is young and it is building its own models

Some interesting topics to look into are:

Moving away from the extremes, no Pinochets or Allendes

Latam politics are more than Fidel Castro and Chavez

Hybrid models, the economically liberal “left” in Chile and the “popular right”

Privatization and social welfare

Citizen movements in Latam

Independientes en Red

The impact of young voters

The relevance of religion (still) in politics

And some of those issues were reflectedin our last political election

Sebastián Piñera Echenique

44%

Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle30%

Marco Enríquez-Ominami

20%

Jorge Arrate Mac-Niven

6%

Chilean Presidential Campaign 2009Changing playersand trends

What are your perceptions (and misperceptions)about Latam politics and the right-left paradigm?