The Four Latin American Rights: A Programmatic Framework

• In Event: Programmatic and Populist Party Structuration in Comparative Perspective

Abstract

Empirical works discussing the ideological content of the right in Latin America are rather scarce as compared to the discussion on the left in the region. This article attempts to determine the constituent elements of the Latin American right. Accordingly, the research develops a comparative analysis of the partisan reality in the region, and attempts to develop a classification of right-wing parties in terms of their ideological heterogeneity. With elite surveys from 15 countries, the article focuses on the political parties located on the right, with the aim of identifying differences and similarities, namely on the following dimensions: support for the Armed Forces, preference for a market-regulated economy, attitudes about gender equality and immigration, as well as a predisposition to free trade with the United States, and a degree of conservatism, as measured by moral issues (same-sex marriage, abortion and drug legalization). The preliminary results show that there is a considerable level of heterogeneity in the right. We identify a total of four rights, which based on their homogeneity as well as heterogeneity we coined as: anti-Bolivarian (anti-military, pro-US), militarist, chauvinist (statist, anti-immigration, gender equality and US, conservative) and liberal (pro-market, open to immigration and gender equality, not very conservative). The main contribution of this work is the theoretical and empirical understanding of the ideological plurality of the Latin American right.

Authors

• Asbel Bohigues, University of Valencia

• Aldo Adrián Martínez Hernández, Center for Economic Research and Teaching (CIDE) Central Region