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IF 2016-04E
The Resurgence of the Right-Wing in Latin America: Its Causes, Characteristics, and Prospects for the Future
Feb. 18, 2016
SON Hye Hyun
Visiting Professor
The three presidential elections and one general election held in Latin America in 2015, center-right parties
gained outright victory, except for in one presidential election (Haiti, in which the final round of elections will take place on April 24, 2016). This election result is expected to bring about a major change in the political
landscape in Latin America. In particular, the ruling leftist party’s defeat in the Venezuelan parliamentary
elections (December 16, 2015) in 17 years has
significance in that starting with victory of Hugo Chavez’s presidential election in Venezuela, the left wing electoral success spread throughout Latin America, and that it has provided the ideological and material bases for the leftist coalitions. In addition, the Argentine government’s recent shift to the center-right is expected to stimulate the rise of right-wing governments in other Latin American countries, since Argentina is a country which has a strong political and economic impact within the region.
Despite the spread of the rightist wave in Latin America, the current victory of the right-wing parties is a result of the coalition formed among numerous new parties or right-wing minor parties. Not only do they have a weak ideological basis, but they also tend to have a common interest merely in nonpolitical issues related to daily lives, such as corruption, absence of public safety, and inflation. These factors make it difficult for them to achieve unity among themselves. Considering the worsened economic conditions at present, it will not be easy for the incumbent governments to improve the economic situation in the short term only through their own political efforts. Economic or social turmoil could even accumulate in the short term, during the process of achieving the ultimate goal of economic normalization. Therefore, prudent judgment and long-term plans are required for our firms’ advancement into local markets in Central and South
America. The discussions on FTA, which were at a stalemate due to conflict of political interests, have recently been re-initiated within the Latin American common market and among the organizations for economic integration. Our government should grasp
this opportunity to resume the FTA negotiations that have been held in suspension. Although the Latin American countries achieved an overall economic growth for the past ten years, its scope and extent varies depending on the country, region, social class, and generation to which people belong. Thus, in order to effectively cooperate with the Latin American countries, we should carefully examine and analyze the changes in consumer tendencies of each country, social class, and age group within the region.
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