The Far Right in Central America
This talk will present an overview of right-wing parties in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala from the Peace Accords (1990s) to the present. This long historical period constitutes two key moments. The first extends until the end of the 2000s and is characterized by the hegemony of neoliberal right-wing parties in the three countries: ARENA in El Salvador (1989-2009); PAN and GANA in Guatemala (1996-2000 and 2004-2008 respectively), and UNO and PLC in Nicaragua (1990-2007). The second moment begins with the neoliberal crisis and the late “pink tide” in the region, between 2007 and 2009, that displaced the political right of the government in all three cases. This moment is characterized by the crisis of the party structures of the neoliberal right, the difficulty of right-wing forces to reorganize themselves in Nicaragua, and the rise of new radical right leadership in Guatemala and El Salvador. I will also identify changes and continuities linked to the social base of the parties, and their positions regarding the role of the state in the economy, democracy, and the rights of minorities.
Dr. Laura Sala is a postdoctoral fellow of the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET) based at the Institute for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (IEALC) at the University of Buenos Aires, where she is co-coordinator of the Central American Studies Group (GECA). She researches processes related to political violence and its transnationalization in the framework of the Latin American Cold War, focusing on right-wing actors and the armed forces. She works, mainly, with tools of historical sociology linked to the Latin American critical sociological tradition. In her doctoral thesis, she investigated the circulation and reception of "counter-subversive ideas" of the last Argentine dictatorship (1976-1983) among the Guatemalan Armed Forces between 1977 and 1982. Laura teaches at the Universidad Nacional de José C. Paz and the Universidad Nacional de Quilmes, Argentina. She holds a PhD in Social Sciences from the University of Buenos Aires, and a Master in Latin American Studies (UNSAM). Her main publications can be found at: https://independent.academia.edu/LauraSala8.
This webinar will have on short presentation followed by a Q&A session, moderated by Cas Mudde.
The Global Perspectives on the Far Right webinar series
The webinar series Global perspectives on the Far Right is co-hosted by C-REX and ICCT (International Centre for Counter-Terrorism - The Hague), and takes place every first Wednesday of the month. The webinars last for one hour from 15:00-16:00 CET, unless indicated otherwise due to speakers’ time zone differences. This webinar series is a continuation of the C-REX hosted webinars that took place from February-July 2021.
The regions covered are largely inspired by the new Manchester University Press book series, ‘Global Studies of the Far Right’, co-founded and co-edited by C-REX affiliate scholar Eviane Leidig.
The webinar will have one short presentation followed by a Q&A session, moderated by Professor Cas Mudde or Eviane Leidig.
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