DOI: 10.53557/elecciones
banner Elecciones

La polarización latinoamericana en perspectiva comparada

Latin America’s polarization in comparative perspective

Authors

  • Jennifer McCoy Orcid
    Georgia State University
  • DOI:
    https://doi.org/10.53557/Elecciones.2025.v24n29.01

    • Abstract



    Political polarization is a systemic-level and multifaceted process that severs cross-cutting ties and shifts perceptions of politics to a zero-sum game. When it turns pernicious, political actors and supporters view opponents as an existential threat and the capacity of democratic institutions to process political conflict breaks down. The article identifies four common fault lines of polarization globally – who belongs, democracy, inequality and social contract. It argues that while Latin American countries experience, to varying degrees, all four of the fault lines, it is the deep-seated, persistent social hierarchies oriented around class, race, and place that stand out relative to other countries. Reaching consensus on reforms that may renew or reformulate agreements on the terms of the social contract, boundaries of community membership, and redressing social inequality is a tall task. Yet the region’s sustained consensus on the democratic rules of the game can provide the mechanisms for addressing this task if new majority coalitions can be formed.



  • References:


    Anria, Santiago, y Kenneth Roberts. en prensa. “Polarization and Democracy: Latin America after the Left Turn”.

    Arreaza Coll, Adriana. 2023. “Latin America’s Inequality is Taking a Toll on Governance”. Americas Quarterly, 8 de febrero de 2023. https://bit.ly/436xsdZ

    Benson, Jonathan. 2024. “Democracy and the Epistemic Problems of Political Polarization”. American Political Science Review 118 (4): 1719-32. https://doi.org/g8rx7f

    Berman, Sheri, y Hans Kundnani. 2021. “The Cost of Convergence”. Journal of Democracy 32 (1): 22-36. https://doi.org/gh2tdg

    Bermeo, Nancy. 2003. Ordinary People in Extraordinary Times: The Citizenry and the Breakdown of Democracy. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Boas, Taylor C. 2023. Evangelicals and Electoral Politics in Latin America: A Kingdom of This World. Cambridge Studies in Social Theory, Religion and Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/ph8p

    Bobbio, Norberto. 1997. Left and Right: The Significance of a Political Distinction. Traducido por Allan Cameron. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

    Castro Cornejo, Rodrigo. 2023. “The AMLO Voter: Affective Polarization and the Rise of the Left in Mexico”. Journal of Politics in Latin America 15 (1): 96-112. https://doi.org/mvkr

    Collier, David, y Steven Levitsky. 1997. “Democracy with Adjectives: Conceptual Innovation in Comparative Research”. World Politics 49 (3): 430-51. https://doi.org/fgfckd

    Comellas, Josep M., y Mariano Torcal. 2023. “Ideological identity, issue-based ideology and bipolar affective polarization in multiparty systems: The cases of Argentina, Chile, Italy, Portugal and Spain”. Electoral Studies 83 (junio): 102615. https://doi.org/ph8q

    Coppedge, Michael, John Gerring, Carl Henrik Knutsen, Staffan I. Lindberg, Jan Teorell, David Altman, Michael Bernhard, Agnes Cornell, M. Steven Fish, Lisa Gastaldi, Haakon Gjerløw, Adam Glynn, Sandra Grahn, Allen Hicken, Katrin Kinzelbach, Kyle L. Marquardt, Kelly McMann, Valeriya Mechkova, Anja Neundorf, Pamela Paxton, Daniel Pemstein, Oskar Rydén, Johannes von Römer, Brigitte Seim, Rachel Sigman, Svend-Erik Skaaning, Jeffrey Staton, Aksel Sundström, Eitan Tzelgov, Luca Uberti, Yi-ting Wang, Tore Wig, y Daniel Ziblatt. 2023. “V-Dem Codebook v13”. Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Project. https://bit.ly/4jICS5g

    Corporación Andina de Fomento. 2022. Desigualdades heredadas. El rol de las habilidades, el empleo y la riqueza en las oportunidades de las nuevas generaciones. Resumen ejecutivo. Bogotá: Banco de Desarrollo de América Latina y el Caribe. https://bit.ly/4jI5QSK

    De La Mata, Dolores, Lucila Berniell, Ernesto Schargrodsky, Fernando Álvarez, y Guillermo Alves. 2022. Desigualdades heredadas. El rol de las habilidades, el empleo y la riqueza en las oportunidades de las nuevas generaciones. Bogotá: Banco de Desarrollo de América Latina y el Caribe. https://bit.ly/4jI5QSK

    Freeman, Mark. 2023. “First Principles: The Need for Greater Consensus on the Fundamentals of Polarisation”. Institute for Integrated Transitions. https://bit.ly/4cJ1PLR https://bit.ly/3GnQ3uf

    Houle, Christian, y Michael K. Miller. 2019. “Social Mobility and Democratic Attitudes: Evidence From Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa”. Comparative Political Studies 52 (11): 1610-47. https://doi.org/ph8v

    Gamboa, Laura, Sandra Botero, y Lisa Zanotti. 2024. “Tweeting Antagonism: (De)Polarizing Rhetoric and Tone in Colombia’s 2022 Presidential Campaign”. Latin American Politics and Society 66 (2): 132-60. https://doi.org/pjg4

    Loriente, Mariano Torcal, Eelco Harteveld, Jennifer McCoy, y Murat Somer, eds. 2024. “Affective Polarization and Democratic Backsliding”. En Handbook of Affective Polarization. OSF. https://doi.org/ph5k

    Luna, Juan Pablo. 2021. “Chile’s Fractured Democratic Consensus”. En Divisive Politics and Democratic Dangers in Latin America, editado por Thomas Carothers y Andreas E. Feldmann, 13-17. Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. https://bit.ly/3RPExud

    Madariaga, Aldo, y Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser. 2020. “Right-Wing Moderation, Left-Wing Inertia and Political Cartelisation in Post-Transition Chile”. Journal of Latin American Studies 52 (2): 343-71. https://doi.org/gp9jvq

    McCoy, Jennifer, Tahmina Rahman, y Murat Somer. 2018. “Polarization and the Global Crisis of Democracy: Common Patterns, Dynamics, and Pernicious Consequences for Democratic Polities”. American Behavioral Scientist 62 (1): 16-42. https://doi.org/gdfg7m

    Meléndez, Carlos. 2022. The Post-Partisans: Anti-Partisans, Anti-Establishment Identifiers, and Apartisans in Latin America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/ph5g

    Mignozzetti, Umberto, y Matias Spektor. 2019. “Brazil: When Political Oligarchies Limit Polarization but Fuel Populism”. En Democracies Divided, editado por Thomas Carothers y Andrew O’Donohue, 228-54. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press. https://bit.ly/3RPExud

    Moncagatta, Paolo, y Pedro Silva. 2024. “Recent Trends in Mass-Level Ideological Polarization in Latin America”. Latin American Politics and Society 66 (2): 24-46. https://doi.org/pjgw

    Orhan, Yunus Emre. 2022. “The relationship between affective polarization and democratic backsliding: comparative evidence”. Democratization 29 (4): 714-35. https://doi.org/gtkdj9

    Rhodes-Purdy, Matthew, Rachel Navarre, y Stephen Utych. 2023. The Age of Discontent: Populism, Extremism, and Conspiracy Theories in Contemporary Democracies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/mrs6

    Roberts, Kenneth M. 2022. “Populism and Polarization in Comparative Perspective: Constitutive, Spatial and Institutional Dimensions”. Government and Opposition 57 (4): 680-702. https://doi.org/gkf5fk

    Samuels, David J., y Cesar Zucco. 2018. Partisans, Antipartisans, and Nonpartisans: Voting Behavior in Brazil. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/ph5j

    Sarsfield, Rodolfo, Paolo Moncagatta, y Kenneth M. Roberts. 2024. “Introduction: The New Polarization in Latin America”. Latin American Politics and Society 66 (2): 1-23. https://doi.org/pjgs

    Schedler, Andreas. 2023. “Rethinking Political Polarization”. Political Science Quarterly 138 (3): 335-59. https://doi.org/ph8r

    Smith, Amy Erica. 2019. Religion and Brazilian Democracy: Mobilizing the People of God. Cambridge Studies in Social Theory, Religion and Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/k7bg

    Somer, Murat, y Jennifer McCoy. 2018. “Déjà vu? Polarization and Endangered Democracies in the 21st Century”. American Behavioral Scientist 62 (1): 3-15. https://doi.org/gdffpd

    Somer, Murat, y Jennifer McCoy. 2019. “Transformations through Polarizations and Global Threats to Democracy”. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 681 (1): 8-22. https://doi.org/gfrkzk

    Somer, Murat, y Jennifer McCoy. 2024. “Affective Polarization and Democratic Backsliding”. En Handbook of Affective Polarization, editado por Mariano Torcal Loriente y Eelco Harteveld, 619-38. OSF. https://doi.org/ph5k

    Stuenkel, Oliver. 2021. “Brazil’s Polarization and Democratic Risks”. En Divisive Politics and Democratic Dangers in Latin America, editado por Thomas Carothers y Andreas E. Feldmann, 8-12. Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. https://bit.ly/3RPExud.

    Torcal, Mariano, y Emily Carty. 2023. “Populismo, ideología y polarización afectiva en Argentina”. Revista Argentina de Ciencia Política 1 (30). https://bit.ly/4cJ52L7

    Winter, Brian. 2023. “In Chile and Elsewhere, Crime Is the New Corruption”. Americas Quarterly, 8 de mayo de 2023. https://bit.ly/42ngWXJ

    Yashar, Deborah J. 1999. “Democracy, Indigenous Movements, and the Postliberal Challenge in Latin America”. World Politics 52 (1): 76-104.

    • Author Biography

    Jennifer McCoy, Georgia State University

    Catedrática (Regent Professor) de Ciencia Política de la Georgia State University, investigadora no residente del Carnegie Endowment for International Peace y afiliada de investigación en el Democracy Institute de la Central European University. Especialista en erosión democrática, polarización, mediación y prevención de conflictos, procesos electorales y política latinoamericana, la Dra. McCoy ha escrito o editado seis libros y decenas de artículos. Previamente, dirigió el Programa de las Américas del Centro Carter (1998–2015), enfocándose en promoción democrática y mediación, especialmente en Latinoamérica. Sus libros más recientes son “Polarizing Polities: A Global Threat to Democracy” (2019) y “International Mediation in Venezuela” (2012), y actualmente trabaja en proyectos sobre despolarización y resistencia a la autocratización. McCoy también es miembro del Council on Foreign Relations, el International Women’s Forum y el Scholars Strategy Network, vinculando la investigación académica con soluciones políticas para fortalecer las democracias alrededor del mundo. Además, imparte cursos sobre erosión democrática, democratización comparada, normas internacionales y política latinoamericana.