Is Latin America Experiencing a Second Cycle of Leftist Politics?

ABSTRACT

Recent electoral victories by left-leaning leaders and parties mark another turn in the oscillations of Latin American politics, but they also signal enduring changes. The electoral success of the left is a sign of both the durability of electoral democracy and the persistence of social pres-sures in highly unequal societies. In this article, we discuss how the electoral fates and governing strategies of leftist movements and parties reflect the conditions in which they emerged. We ana-lyze the political and organizational legacies of Cold War repression as well as the ways in which global events such as 9/11, the commodity boom of the 2000s and its exhaustion, the covid-19 pandemic, and the new global wave of progressive movements, have shaped the ebb-and-flow of left-wing politics. We conclude with reflections on the possibilities for the construction of social democracy as an alternative to radical populist and right-wing oligarchical politics. © 2023, Centro de Investigacion y Docencia Economicas A.C.. All rights reserved.