CARACTERIZACIÓN DEL USO DEL CONCEPTO DE POPULISMO: LA POLÍTICA DE LA SALVACIÓN
Abstract
En este artículo se propone un mecanismo conceptual de varios niveles con el que se caracteriza la manera en que es utilizado el concepto de populismo. Se afirma que éste es un concepto complejo que debe construirse a través de diferentes niveles analíticos y que el principal rasgo diferenciador de dicha categoría frente a otros fenómenos radica en el uso del modelo cognitivo idealizado de la figura de la salvación, donde la realidad política es narrada en términos de un escenario apocalíptico que instrumentaliza los lugares comunes de la democracia. En este sentido, el núcleo de la narrativa que da sentido a la categoría de populismo es una metáfora que parte de un correlato religioso. Este mecanismo pretende superar una parte de las dificultades teóricas y metodológicas de otras definiciones de populismo, así como explica algunos componentes involucrados en la categorización de fenómenos políticos. Con este fin, se realiza una contextualización de la discusión sobre el concepto, se mencionan algunas insuficiencias de las conceptualizaciones estudiadas, se propone un marco teórico que explica esas insuficiencias y se construye una definición estructurada en varios niveles analíticos.
In this article, a multi-level conceptual mechanism is proposed to characterize the way in which the concept of populism is used. It is pointed out that this is a complex concept that must be defined through different analytical levels and that the main distinguishing feature of this category in comparison to other phenomena lies in the use of the idealized cognitive model of the figure of salvation, where political reality is narrated in terms of an apocalyptic scenario that uses the commonplaces of democracy. In this sense, the core of the narrative that makes meaningful the category of populism is a metaphor that is based on a religious correlate. This mechanism aims to overcome a part of the theoretical and methodological difficulties of the conceptualization of populism and to explain some components involved in the categorization of political phenomena. To make this, there is made a contextualization of the discussion on the concept, are studied some insufficiencies of the conceptualizations and is proposed a theoretical framework that explains these insufficiencies.
In this article, a multi-level conceptual mechanism is proposed to characterize the way in which the concept of populism is used. It is pointed out that this is a complex concept that must be defined through different analytical levels and that the main distinguishing feature of this category in comparison to other phenomena lies in the use of the idealized cognitive model of the figure of salvation, where political reality is narrated in terms of an apocalyptic scenario that uses the commonplaces of democracy. In this sense, the core of the narrative that makes meaningful the category of populism is a metaphor that is based on a religious correlate. This mechanism aims to overcome a part of the theoretical and methodological difficulties of the conceptualization of populism and to explain some components involved in the categorization of political phenomena. To make this, there is made a contextualization of the discussion on the concept, are studied some insufficiencies of the conceptualizations and is proposed a theoretical framework that explains these insufficiencies.
Description
Vol. 22, No. 35